Dreaming at Dawn
by Limited Wisdom
Summary: Where was Leah's perfect ending? And why could she not imprint on some guy already. Leah's story is complete, I will be adding a few chapters at the end that are Phil's point of view.
1. Preface

**A/N: **I will say this once and only once: sadly the wolves and vampires are not my characters, they belong to Stephenie Meyer.

A friendly warning this is a mature rated story, some of the language and situations are for big girls only. I will warn you if it gets really fun at the beginning of the chapter.

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**Summary:** When it rains, it pours - or so the old saying went. Yeah well for me, Leah Clearwater, it was currently monsoon season. Everything was going along just the way I wanted when ...BAM... out of the blue fate smacked me upside the head with a two-by-four. Of course fate being a bitch and all that did not stop with just one hit. For a while it was whack-a-Leah season, and so that it how I ended up where I am now. This is pretty much rock bottom, but I am not foolish enough to say that things could not possibly get any worse. Fate has taken away my father, my boyfriend, my best friend, my body, and worst of all my dreams. Hell at one point I had even lost my home. I have nothing left to lose, or so I keep telling myself. Now it looks like things are finally settling down, unfortunately that means I now have plenty of free time to evaluate my life and realize how much it really sucks. Did I mention none of my clothes fit?

So what if I accepted a ride from a complete stranger? At the time it got me away from Sam with his freaking alpha orders, and in that moment it was all I needed. The fact that this man can almost make me smile is just a bonus. Did I mention he has an amazing ass? and that he was an amazing cook? So what could possibly be wrong with this paragon?

That bitch fate is what was wrong. It would have been too easy to imprint on my yummy looking stranger. Imprinting would have been my ticket out of this black hole I had fallen into. Instead of the easy way out I was going to have to get my life back on track the old fashioned way - just suck it up and somehow crawl out all by myself. For a while though I was going to have some fun with Phil and pretend that I was normal.

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**_Preface_**

The city of Forks was for most people nothing more than a spec on a map. On the surface it was a sleepy little small town, and so the perfect setting for a horror story. The residents had to mainly worry about forgetting their umbrellas rather than anything supernatural - not that supernatural creatures did not inhabit the regions surrounding the town. In fact just a few months ago this area saw a great deal of action. Fortunately for the citizens of Forks, and their property values, most of these incidents were only known to a few unique members of the community. Individuals who expended a great deal of energy keeping such events secrets.

On today's rainy September morning not much was going on regarding the supernatural world. In fact they were all relaxing and enjoying having a few days of peace. Well most of them were engaged in some sort of quiet celebration. One specific girl was not as happy as the rest. In fact she was seriously morose looking. She was feeling cheated by fate, and while the others got their happy ending she received nothing but misery. In some ways she was starting to suspect that she would never get her fairy tale ending. Instead life would always cast her in the monster category.


	2. 1  Strawberry Shake

Chapter 1: Strawberry Shake

My mother drove away in the car on her way to visit Chief Swan, or Charlie as he had everyone call him. She was taking him one of her homemade casseroles.

Sue Clearwater, my mother, was a strong woman and when life pushed her to the limit she did not break or bend. I sometimes wondered what it cost her to be this strong, more importantly I wished she would share the secret of the impenetrable armor. These days all she cared about were duty and the tribe; in fact, just a few weeks ago she picked the tribe over her own children. She had put on the mantle of tribal elder and has not taken it off since. The resentment over my mother choosing her duties over her children had only added to the mountain of bitterness already residing inside of me; show me one person who would not be pissed in my situation. Maybe my little brother Seth but he was a freak like that, he always saw the best in people; absolutely nothing could bring him down.

It would have been nice if she actually was a mother to me, it would not take too long, a few minutes would have sufficed. I might be nineteen years old but I still needed my mother. Especially at this time in my life, a few months my life was so certain and my future secure, then suddenly everything fell apart. The worst part was that I had been so sure of how things were going to turn out I was not prepared for a change of plans; this reality was not even close to how things should have turned out.

When my father had died a few months back, my mother had not stopped to grieve, she had not even slowed down. I was angry at her, resentful for not seeming to even be phased by the death of my father. She continued to go on like she did before he had died. There was no pause, there was no week of sitting in a dark room and crying, just business as usual. It might have been extremely selfish to wish that my mother had fallen apart, nonetheless that is what I wanted her to do.

Sadly I missed my father, not only because he was my father, but because unlike my mother he had seemed human. Did that make me a bad person? Maybe. But most of my behavior recently has been reprehensible. The only problem, I did not really care. I felt like crap, why should I go out of my way to make everyone around me feel good?

My mother had now deemed herself Charlie's guide to the supernatural. I guess she had some authority over the subject of the supernatural, both her children being shapeshifting wolves might have helped a little. But I don't think even my mother, with all her knowledge, could have anticipated what Charlie had to deal with: a vampire for a son-in-law, a half vampire grandchild, and finally his only child Bella had been turned into one of those things as well.

Charlie was having a really bad week having found out about this just recently, I should have felt sorry for him. A few months ago I would have felt some sympathy, but currently I needed all that energy to feel sorry for myself. There was a bright side to all of this, at least he was not attending his daughter's funeral. He was not aware how close his daughter had been to death, he did not know her heart had stopped. Not that he knew any details, all he knew was he should not ask questions. Charlie seemed good at ignoring things he did not want to think about, which was somewhat strange considering his daughter had wanted to know everything. She had been relentless in her need to appease her curiosity.

I don't know why my mother bothered with Charlie, the leeches took care of him. Regardless of that, the man had been living on his own for a long time, why would he all of a sudden become incapable of seeing to his own needs? Esme Cullen, or Mama leech as I like to refer to her, constantly was taking him food. It was strange for the leeches, or vampires as they called themselves, to be cooking considering they did not eat food. They just drank blood, sucked the life out of anything and anyone around them. They had certainly drained away any chance of happiness I might have had in life. Charlie was lucky, he had just gotten a glimpse of my world, the world that lies under the pretty one most people believe in. In my world very few things can be counted on, especially when it comes to love. Charlie was trying to ignore most of my world, I wished I could do the same. But he had people who loved him and sheltered him from the darker side of this supernatural world.

I headed into the local diner, my mother would pick me up when she was done, she knew better than to take me with her. She was afraid I would embarrass her, or something worse. I had gotten good at that lately, so nobody wanted me around these days. That was all right, I did not want to be around them. I heard the chimes of bells over my head as I opened the door. I resisted the temptation to growl at them and rip them off. They sounded too cheerful for my taste, but it did not take much to irritate me these days.

The place was not packed, it was eleven o'clock on a Saturday morning, but it was not empty either. There were a couple of locals I recognized but could not name sitting around drinking coffee and reading newspapers; the remains of their brunch sitting abandoned in front of them. A few of them looked up, but they quickly went back to their newspapers. I was nothing new, nothing of interest. I might not live in town but this was a small enough region that they recognized me as a local.

In one corner a group of six or so teenage girls were all packed into one booth. It was funny how I no longer thought of myself in the same category as that bunch. Technically at nineteen I was still considered a teenager, but I think I had been through enough lately to age me at least ten years. My body had certainly aged, I probably looked closer to twenty five; it was all part of being a werewolf. The girls looked fifteen maybe sixteen. Their make-up was too thick, their shirts too low cut, and their heels too high. I could smell their perfume from the door, they did not know restraint even when they applied that. I wish they had, the smell was overwhelming and not all that pleasant. Their male counter parts were in a booth right next to them, trying their best to get the attention of the girls. I ignored them, their antics were not for my benefit.

A few of the boys spent a moment checking me out as I entered. I could guess what they saw when they looked at me. A too tall native american girl, with the typical dark hair and brown eyes. It did not help that my recent growth spurt had put a major dent in my wardrobe options. Most of my clothes were too small for me now, and I did not have the money to go out and buy the stuff that would be needed to replace the things that no longer fit. Just yesterday I had tried on one of my nicer dresses; I wanted to get dressed up since I had been living homeless for the past few weeks. I must have grown even more since leaving home, because the dress had ripped at the shoulders when I tried to put it on. Then my wolf temper got the best of me and I ended up ripping the dress into pieces getting it off. Yesterday had not been a good day, but then I cannot remember my last good day.

So instead of a nice dress I was wearing cut off shorts that I had inherited from one of the other pack members, an old t-shirt, and my dad's hunting jacket. Fashion for a werewolf, oh lest we forget sexy flip flops since I had outgrown my shoes. And if werewolf feet were anything like puppy feet I still had some growing to do. The teenage boys quickly put me in the uninteresting category, and went went back to their games of trying to attract the attention of the girls. That was a smart move on their part, I would probably have kicked their collective asses if they tried to mess with me.

The waitress, I think her name was Cindy or something, looked up from where she was taking someone's order. "Just have a seat anywhere, and I will be right there," she said. It looked like she was the only waitress here right now, guess I had no choice but to wait.

I shook my head as one of the boys, said something truly obnoxious and the girls giggled en masse. Was I ever this innocent? Was it wrong to be jealous of a fifteen year old? I did not want to be them, because one day they too would grow up and have to deal with the same disappointments.

_Though maybe not the quite the same_, I thought to myself as an embittered smile crossed my lips.

Disillusions. That was my word of the day. I had picked up a used copy of a book that is supposed to improve my vocabulary. It was too late to sign up for classes at any of the nearby community colleges, being late September and all. But I had been tied up during registration. Nothing like trying to protect the town from a killer horde of newborn vampires. Followed by trying to protect my little brother from our old pack of killer werewolves. All in all it had been a great summer for me, Leah Clearwater. I was starting to see a little trend here, horrible spring, horrible summer, I wonder how my fall was going to turn out?

Oh yes, let us not forget the whole homeless bit. It was all to make sure my little brother Seth was not killed by the leeches he was supposed to be protecting. That is why I had gone homeless, with no clothes, no cooked food, and no bed to sleep on. It had nothing to do with my getting away from my ex boyfriend Sam. Who was I kidding? I would do anything to get away from him. We had no choice but to share thoughts in wolf form, and so while I was a member of his pack I had to listen to his thoughts about Emily.

I sat down on one of the barstools and took off my jacket. I did not really need it, being a wolf and all I did not get cold. But it would have looked strange if I was running around late September in short sleeves. In wolf form I ran around in even less than that, but the locals did not need to know that part either.

"What can I get you?" the waitress whose name tag identified her as Sally. _Oh yeah Sally...Cindy close enough._

"I want a strawberry shake, with whip cream and a cherry on top." I did not even bothering opening the menu she had pushed my way.

"Anything else?" she asked as she wrote down my order. I just shook my head.

"Order up," said the guy from the kitchen as he put several heavy plates on the counter for Sally to take. She deftly picked up the plates and set them a little bit down from where I was sitting at the bar. Looking over to the spot I was impressed with the number of vegetables. I did not think the diner had that many veggies on its menu. They were not exactly going for the heart healthy stuff here, more like comfort food with lots of salt and fat. In other words, the stuff that tasted really good. Ever since the change had happened and I became a wolf I started eating for calories rather than health. No matter how much I ate, I did not seem to gain a pound, unless it was in muscle. I guess it was one of the few benefits of being a werewolf.

Having nothing better to do I watched Sally place three large plates filled to the brink with food on the counter of the bar a few chairs down from me, the seat was empty so the owner of the food must be elsewhere. There was already a half filled glass of water, and one set of utensils. Surely this was not just for one person? Looking around I sniffed the air, that amount of food would be considered werewolf portions but I could not smell any wolves in the building.

Just then the bathroom door in the back creaked open grabbing my attention, I was going to assume this was the owner of the insane amounts of food.

He was a man, not a boy, I could not exactly describe why I knew that. Maybe it was the way the bones stood out on his cheeks, no baby fat to round out his face. He was a really tall man. His height would have been impressive if it was not for the fact that I was now surrounded by giants. Something about the werewolf genes made the boys shoot up abnormally tall. Even my little brother who was a few months shy of his fifteenth birthday had passed the six foot mark.

So it was not his height that kept my gaze on him for longer than necessary, it was something else. Thinking about it for a few moments I decided it must have been the way he walked. This man was a predator, I did not need wolf instincts to figure that out. My human ones were quite adequate to make that assessment. His long legs encased in dark blue jeans quickly moved to cover the distance between us. They were not the same jeans that the boys were wearing, the ones you spent too much money and bought with the holes already in them - these jeans looked utilitarian.

I noticed he was checking me out as I checked him out. I guess he must have felt my stare. _Or he was just looking where he was going_, I rolled my eyes at my own vanity. But I did not look away from him, instead I met his stare head on. I did not care, I had developed a certain level of boldness and obstinacy of late.

He was not good looking, at least not by conventional standards. His features defined him as strong rather than good looking. His skin was dark, darker than if a white person had gotten too much sun but it did not have the same tinge as my people had. I could not tell what race he was, so that would mean he was probably of mixed heritage. His nose was pretty flat, and he had wide lips associated with blacks. His forehead was wide with a deep widow's peak. His brown eyes matched his midnight black hair. I don't know how long his hair was but it was long enough to be held back in a ponytail. There were some strands slipping out of their restraint, but that did not help soften the hard face. His jaw was square and his cheekbones wide. His large thick eyebrows had risen when he noticed my stare.

His plain grey T-shirt did not look to be deliberately tight but there was no way to hide the muscles in his chest or arms. He was not really all that bulky, more lean and strong - my inner wolf approved. It was not the kind of muscles you get by working out at the gym everyday, it was more like the ones you get from working at a construction site. The boots he has on made a clicking sound on the floor of the diner, I was guessing they were steel toed, they looked pretty scarred up. It seemed to go with my construction worker theory.

He broke eye contact as soon as he noticed his food was ready, my presence was forgotten. He did not hesitate long in front of his food.

"Here is your food honey, is there anything else you need?" the waitress asked him.

"Ketchup," I felt shivers go down my spine. What a voice, deep and somewhat gravely. _Get a grip Leah he just asked for ketchup_. With a voice like that he could make anything sound sexy.

I looked away before I did something embarrassing like ask him to read the menu out loud. What can I say, I always liked guys with deep voices. My friend Claire used to tease me about my criteria for favorite actors, I tended to go for the ones with the deeper voices. This guy would not have made it as an actor, he was not pretty enough. In fact, I would hazard a guess that he would kick the butt of anyone who dared call him pretty. I had better look away before he noticed me staring and got the wrong impression. Not that I could not handle him in a fight but there might be some awkward moments while I explained why I had not lost the fight. Or worse yet he thought I was coming onto him. _Though that seemed to be not that bad of a plan. _Apparently my libido which had been shoved down under a large pile of bitterness and depression had decided show up for the first time in months.

An extra loud noise came from the boys crowd. They were really trying hard but I guess I could not blame them completely, the girls were a rapt audience. They were not very good at pretending to ignore the boys.

"There you go," Sally said as she set my shake in front of me. Surprisingly she had managed to startle me, that was an unusual occurrence with the super wolf hearing. I must really be distracted today.

Staring down at my shake I poked the maraschino cherry. I never liked the cherry, but I still asked for it every time. When I was a little girl my father used to eat the cherry for me, I would generously share that part of my shake with him. My father would not be joining me today to help me with my cherry problem or any of my other problems. I pushed the cherry aside and drew up some of the thick shake through my straw. The shake was pretty good. I don't know why I did this to myself, why I opened these wounds. I had enough to be miserable about, why did I feel the need to add more? One reason was that I did not want to forget my father, I wanted to remember the good times, I wanted to remember my father from my childhood.

Unfortunately no matter how hard I tried I could not seem to forget his face the last time I saw him, purple and splotchy. His heart had given up. The EMTs were trying to force it back into motion, I felt so useless then. I had wished my father had had even a small portion of the healing ability I had as a wolf. I would have given anything at that point in time to give him my ability to heal.

The relief I felt when they succeeded in starting his heart up again was indescribable. But then his heart stopped a second time, permanently. I had no one to comfort me at that time. My mother was going on as if nothing had happened, my little brother had just lost his father, Sam my boyfriend was no longer mine, and my best friend was not longer available - she was the one who Sam belonged to now.

It seems like a lifetime ago, in the months since then I feel like I have lived a dozen lifetimes worth of bad. Some of it was my own doing, my own attitude had brought on some of the pain. I kept waiting for the good to start. Is the bad karma not supposed to be followed by some good? I needed something really good to happen. Imprinting would have been nice.

If I imprinted I would finally stop loving Sam, but with the way my luck was going I would imprint on some guy that was unavailable, married with four kids or something equally disturbing. Imprinting had worked for Jake, he was over Bella and completely enamored with a baby. Why could that not happen to me? But maybe take out the half-vampire part of the story.

"Are you going to eat that?" a voice interrupted my musings. I recognized the voice even though I had only heard him say ketchup. He was waving his fork in my general direction.

"What?" I said sounding pissed. Yeah way to go Leah, but this pretty much has been my conversational tone for the past few months. It was extremely pathetic, even I hated myself at times, but I did not know how else to survive. If I was enough of a... well I did not want to think of the word... then people would be too busy hating me and not have enough time to pity me. At least that was the plan. But back to me being stupid.

"The cherry, you gonna eat it or kill it," he said looking down at my hands. I followed his gaze to the shake in front of me. I must have been stabbing the cherry with my straw. He took another bite of his food, not overly concerned with my less than polite answer.

"I don't like maraschino cherries" I told him, I don't know why I felt the need to share. He did not seem to be the kind that would be interested.

"I see" he said looking up at my face, but his tone clearly said he did not. He was probably thoroughly confused with my answer, I could see that from the wrinkling of his forehead. I could have explained why I asked for cherries but he would want to hear my pathetic sob story about my daddy.

The waitress came back to refill his water. I was surprised to note that not only had he ordered the veggies but he was actually was eating them. I kind of took him for a meat and potatoes guy. I was not surprised by the amount of food he ordered, that size of body took energy to maintain, I was surprised by the choices he made. Ewww had he put ketchup on his green beans? He turned back to his food, I could not seem to hold anyone's interest for long these days.

I pretended to drink my shake, I had lost my appetite, which is saying a great deal for a wolf. We were always ready to eat and most of us were not very particular about what we ate. I did draw the line at dining a la natural, I hated eating the raw stuff even in wolf form. Jake still harassed me about that.

The combination of memories both recent and from the past had given me a sour taste in my mouth. I could not drink any more of my shake. Looking around again I searched for something to distract me.

My gaze landed on the man sitting a few chairs down from me. I told myself I was being curious. But I guess it was my duty to be that way, I would not want to ignore some stranger and he turned out to be a psycho killer or something. It was my job to protect the Rez and the people of Forks, my wolf duty. _Yeah right Leah, keep telling yourself that_. I watched as he used his fingers to rip apart his roll. He had long fingers, his movements looked almost delicate compared to how his big his body was. _He must be good with his hands_, I thought to myself. My mind started thinking of all the things he might be able to do with deft fingers, _ I am so not going down that path_. I shook away those thoughts, down libido down. Seriously this was not something I needed; having naughty thoughts about a guy whose name I did not even know.

So I looked back down at my shake and stabbed my cherry, again. This time with more vigor. I was pretending the cherry was someone I knew. It was amazing to learn that the human heart is capable of loving and hating a person all at the same time. If you had asked me a year ago I would have told you it was not possible, things had changed since then.

_You are still in love with Sam, _I told myself bitterly. How sick was that. Sally had already put my bill next to me. I picked it up and went to wait by the checkout to pay for my drink.

"Was there something wrong with your shake?" Sally asked as she rung me up. I guess she had noticed I had left most of it there.

"No it was fine, keep the change." I said over my shoulder practically running out of the diner. The bells chimed pleasantly, this time I was unable to contain the growl that rose in my throat.

I hated the bitterness that had consumed me these past few months. But I could not get over it. I had reached an ultimate low. I thought it would help when I left Sam's pack to join Jake's but soon even being free from Sam's thoughts was not enough. It used to be almost tolerable because Jake was just as upset as I was. I was in misery but at least I had company. His best friend Bella had been in love with a vampire. In fact she had made her choices, she had not only picked the bloodsucker over Jake but she had chosen to break the treaty and have the vampires turn her into one of them. It had really messed Jake, but nothing had compared his agony when the leech got her pregnant and that thing was killing her from the inside out. It seemed almost nice for a little bit, here was someone who was worse off than I. All that had changed when Bella gave birth to Nessie. Jake had imprinted on the newborn child and now all was hunky dory, it was like the time of pain and misery had been completely erased from his mind. Worst of all I was alone again in my woes.

I guess this meant there was small ray of light at the end of this long tunnel. The hope that I would imprint and all this baggage of Sam would disappear. At this point I almost did not care who I imprinted on so long as I could get away from Sam. Maybe I should go find that happily married father of four. I could take care of his kids for him, since it looked like I might not be able to have children of my own.

Anything to get away from Sam. Soon I will find a way.

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**A/N: **Most of these first few chapters should be very similar, just changing up some of the order. And of course spelling mistakes. Reviews are welcome...yeah, yeah, I am a review whore.

Happy reading,

LW


	3. 2  Castles in the Sky

Chapter 2: Castles in the Sky

_Now what_, I thought to myself. Some guy asks you about your drink and you freak out. That was pretty much typical behavior for me lately.

I wandered down the street, not really going anywhere. Not that there was much to do in downtown Forks. You could get rained on, that was a guarantee in this place, it was a good thing the rain no longer bothered me.

Since it was too late to enroll in college this semester maybe I should try to get a job - a little extra money would be nice. It might not be a bad plan, but what could I do? Unfortunately it did not look like the job opportunities were dropping into my lap. I had a high school degree from the Rez school, but that was the extent of my resume. Plus I had to consider the wolf duties, I was still expected to run patrols.

I could try to get a job at one of the tourist stores that dotted the region. But that might cause a few problems when I had to deal with people - currently my reputation did not lean towards nice girl. It would not take me long to be fired from any job that required interaction with humans. At this point in my life I was not capable of being nice. It was always best for me to be alone, but then that was not good either; when I was alone I had the time to think. Yeah so sue me, I did not know what I wanted.

Right now, at this moment I wanted to go to the beach and see the ocean. I loved the Pacific ocean, I had heard it was considered to be calm but I had never seen that. No matter when I look at the water it is always in motion. I could sit for hours on the cliffs and feel the spray on my skin from the waves below me. Those were the moments I could feel a little bit like my old self.

I was so tired of feeling this bitterness, it was exhausting.

When I was eighteen I had my entire life planned out, I knew who I was and more importantly who I was going to be. Now all that is gone, and there was not second plan to fall back on. I was not only missing Sam, I was missing the life we would have had together. At this point we would have been attending a community college, working on my teaching certificate so I could come back to the Rez and replace old Mr. Thompson - he had been threatening to retire from teaching for the past five years but there was no one to replace him. My castle in the sky was not grandiose, back then I had humble dreams. They may have been simple but they were mine, and I had plenty of dreams to use as material to continue to build my castle in the sky.

The change was so subtle it took me a while to notice, the foundation of the castle started to weaken; I was too busy adding turrets and towers to see what was going on all around me. Sam got a fever, it seemed a little high but nothing out of the ordinary, but then it would not go away. I tried everything I could think of, even pleaded with him to go see a doctor. I would have done anything to help him, as his future wife it was my job to care for him. The vows we would soon take said in sickness and in health; we might not have officially said the words but in my mind I had already said them to him. I was ready to do my job but his mom intervened, she sent me away; there was a fear that he might be contagious. I was worried sick, it was not good for me being kept away from my Sam. A few days afterwards the tribal elders stepped in, I asked my father to tell me what was going on, but he told me not to worry about it.

"How can I not worry about it?" I pleaded with him, "This is _my_ Sam here."

But he would not budge, he told me Sam would be fine in a few days.

My father's words came true. Just like he had predicted everything went back to normal, for a little while it seemed as if everything would be fine. I continued to build on my castle, I added a moat with beautiful pink waterlilies. Sam was still a little too warm to the touch but he told me it was mono and to expect his fever to come and go. It took me weeks to notice the changes in Sam; it was my fault actually, I was the one who chose to ignore anything that did not go along with my dreams. Sam became more secretive, I would go over to his mom's house but he was never there. He was always talking with the tribal elders. He would disappear for hours on end without telling me where he would go or what he was doing.

"Since when have you become such friends with the elders?" I teased him about it one afternoon, playfully punching him in the shoulder. He turned on me and shouted, I don't remember the exact words but the gist of it was clear, he wanted me to go away. Not once in the four years we dated had he ever shouted at me, I had seen him get angry but he had never raised his voice before. I could feel the fury rolling off of him, for the first time in my life I was afraid of Sam. Between the strange growth spurt that had caused him to tower over me, the muscles he had suddenly obtained, and this temper he had developed; I felt I was looking at a stranger. Construction on my castle was halted while I tried to figure out what had happened to the boy I loved.

"It is part of growing up Leah, people change as they mature," my father told me when he found me crying about it. But I could see the extra line in his forehead, he did not believe the lie he had just told me.

"People change daddy, but they don't do it overnight. Something is wrong." I told him between sobs.

A few days later Sam came to apologize. "I am sorry Lee Lee, please forgive me."

I forgave him of course, but the love I felt for this man had lost some of its sheen. The rose colored glasses I had been looking through had a few water stains on them, probably from all the tears I had shed. For a while it looked as if he was trying to go back to the way things were, but now I was more observant. For example, he stopped talking about saving up for college, which was something we had discussed in great detail on previous occasions. In fact he had stopped dreaming with me, all talk of how we would live our lives together ceased completely. I let it go for a while, he was still mine, at least I could pretend the dreams were still alive. I could fool myself that the castle was still as shiny and bright as it had been on previous occasions.

My best friend and cousin, Emily, had noticed the changes in me during our numerous phone conversations. My parents may not have been able to notice how deeply disturbed regarding the Sam situation but Emily knew me better than anyone else in the world. Then one weekend, tired of my constant denial of there being a problem, Emily came to see me in person. Instead of helping me she unintentionally hurt me more than I would have thought possible. To say my life went down the toilet is an understatement. I could not comprehend what had happened, all of a sudden Sam said we were done dating and instantly started worshipping Emily.

"We have just grown apart," he told me awkwardly, after I went to him crying and practically crawling on my hands and knees trying to figure out what I had done wrong.

I thought he had loved me, but it was nothing compared to how he looked at Emily now. The mixture of jubilance and reverence in his face whenever he talked to her was a sharp stab to my heart, this went beyond heartbreak it felt like chunks of my soul were being ripped out. My castle crumbled all around me, Sam tore it down with his bare hands and there seemed nothing I could do to stop him.

I was proud of Emily for resisting, she was my best friend, my cousin; no matter how much Sam tried to be with her she kept her distance. But then she betrayed me as well, she said yes to him. So now I got to watch as someone else moved into my castle, and lived the life I should have lived.

Fate had taken my dreams and my love, but she was not done with me yet. There was one more thing she could take from me, I had not even realized it was possible but I soon learned otherwise; she took my body. I hit a growth spurt, which was strange for a girl just turned nineteen; then I got the fever. I managed to hide it from my parents for a few days, I felt foolish and did not want them to know Sam had given me mono.

I was hiding out in my room, trying to avoid the notice of my mother but I became a little delirious. I had some strange dreams, I was a wolf running through the woods, feeling the soft moss under my feet, dodging trees and plowing through ferns. I was happy, nothing mattered but the speed and bliss of running. I must have made a great deal of noise because when I came to my mother was giving me a strange look. Her hand was on my forehead.

"We need to meet with the elders." she told me.

"What? Why?" I moaned, it was not embarrassing enough that I acquired mono from my former boyfriend. My mother wanted me to tell the tribal elders about it, my father did not need to know this!

To my utter shock and mortification Sam was there when my mother took me to an emergency tribal elders meeting.

My humiliation was soon forgotten as they told me I did not have mono.

"Yeah right, ok sure." I told them, "was I passed out longer than I had thought and all of you went to medical school?"

My father cringed at the tone of my voice. I was supposed to respect my elders, especially the heads of the tribe. But come on, why the heck was I sitting here discussing the "kissing disease" with them.

It was then that Sam spoke up with an authoritarian tone I had never heard him use before, "I will explain it to her." And to my utter surprise they gave Sam the floor, without questioning him.

That was the point at which Sam started to take off his clothes. I looked back at the elders wondering if I was still dreaming. They did not seem surprised by Sam's behavior, in fact they all had an expectant look on their faces.

So the final blow fate dealt me? I found out that night I was a wolf, a shapeshifter. Not only was I now capable of shifting into a wolf but I had to join Sam's pack, he was now my alpha and I had to obey all his orders. I actually tried to disobey several times that night but Sam used his alpha voice on me. I was crushed under the power of the alpha, no choice but to obey. No matter how hard I tried I could do nothing but yield over and over again. I was now part of the secret and he would make sure I kept it so, I was not allowed to tell anyone. I would have kept the secret even without the order, why would I betray my tribe? Did they think so little of me? Bitter tears stung my eyes, and I bit my cheek hard enough to draw blood; I soon discovered another trait of the wolf, fast healing. Shifting for the first time was not hard, I just let all my anger out and voila, I was a wolf. That is when the other voices flooded into my mind. The pack was all there with me, greeting me, all happy to see me. They could not fully hide their thoughts form me. They thought I was strange, a freak was the word one of them was thinking. Why would there be a female werewolf? There must be something wrong with me, something broken.

They managed to hide it from me for a few days but I finally demanded to know what this imprinting was. It was then that they explained about Sam, and how he had no choice but to love Emily. He had some crackpot theory about genetics and compatibility. I had a much better bloodline than Emily, he should have imprinted on me.

That is when it started coming out, the venom. Hearing the pity in their thoughts, I could think of no other way to survive. I knew they hated my guts, I knew they wished I had never joined the pack. I did not really care, or so I told myself. My free time became limited as trouble started, we had to do patrols and protect the tribe. It was a duty I could not get away from, Sam would not let me.

When I did get a rare opportunity to be alone and think about things, I could admit to myself if only for the moment that I did care about what the others thought of me. It did hurt me to be unwanted, and deep down I wished that someone would care for me despite all the venom that flew out of my mouth. I hated myself, how could I expect anyone else to love me?

Then my father died. When it rains it pours, or so goes the old saying. It was not pouring, I was in the middle of my own personal monsoon season, and it did not look like it would end anytime soon.

"I am so sorry dear," they all told me at the funeral. Pity in their voices. I know it was my father's funeral and I know it was supposed to be about his life, but what about my life. They all looked at me, "poor little Leah" they muttered to each other, but thanks to my new heightened senses I could hear them. That was the point when my cup overflowed with malevolence . No matter how much I pour out there is always more, it is a bottomless pit of toxins. One good thing came out of all this, at least I was no longer an object of pity. The other members of the tribe walked the other way when they saw me coming. I also knew what the wolf pack was thinking, it was almost pleasant injecting my poisonous thoughts into their minds. They thought if I would just be a little nicer people would not hate me; but I had been there done that and look where it got me. Even my little brother did not want me around, my little brother who can find good in anything or anyone. They did not understand, I was not capable of being nice.

A few weeks back I thought things would get better, when I was able to get away from Sam's pack. For an instant believing I could almost push my head above the noxious cloud that followed me around, but the dark tendrils pulled me back into the darkness I currently resided in.

"Leah," I flinched as I heard my name being called. The problem was not that someone called my name, my problem was with who called my name. _Sam._

Sam had stopped his truck a few steps ahead of me and was now leaning out of the open window.

"What do _you _want?" I did not try to hide my anger at seeing him. He knew I hated his guts, which would have been great, except he also knew I loved him. He opened the door of his truck and jumped out. That is when I noticed he was not alone, Emily was with him.

_Oh great what a perfect day, could this get any worse_? There was nothing I loved more than watching those two together. Emily had gotten out of the truck as well, I watched as she placed her hand in the crook of Sam's arm. How did that old song go: _It should have been me_. Sam looked down at Emily with an adoring smile, I alternated between the need to punch someone and the nausea that was threatening to bring back what little of the strawberry shake I had drunk. It should have been me planning that wedding, I don't know why I had agreed to be her bridesmaid. Must have been on crack at the moment.

"We ran into your mother a few minutes ago, she is going to have lunch with Charlie," Emily explained briefly, she had a friendly smile on her lips but it did not reach her eyes. I guess she was scared of me now, or worse it might have been pity. Emily had been my number one confidant, now she was on the long list of people I never wanted to lay eyes on ever again. It was not a particular honor to be on this list, since it did not take much to get on it. I was not discriminatory in my hate.

Emily had the same coloring as I did, with her dark brown eyes and long dark hair; we looked very similar but then we were cousins. I used to have hair like that, before I started to turn into a wolf. Then I had sheared my hair, there was little choice in the matter. The more hair you had as a human the shaggier you were as a wolf, but loosing my waist length hair should have been the least of my worries. At one point Emily and I had been similar enough in size that we could share clothing, that was not going to happen anymore. Not that I wanted to share anything with her, here she was petite and delicate looking next to me, the giant freak.

So I stood there and glared at her waist length braids, jealous of even that. She had everything I wanted, the life I should have had if it were not for this stupid wolf thing. _The scar on the face is a nice touch,_ I thought maliciously. Sam had done that, he had lost his temper once and shifted too close to her. It was one of the reasons he was in such control now; he learned control for _his Emily_. I stared at the scars on her face, a sneer more than a smile appearing on my own unmarked face. I knew it bothered Emily when people looked at her scars, and I enjoyed disturbing her. However the best part of it was I know how Sam felt about that scar and how much it hurt him to be reminded of what he had done to his one true love. I know I was evil, so sue me.

"So we offered to take you back to the Rez, there is plenty of room in the truck for you," Sam continued where Emily had left off, he was glaring a little at me now.

_Oops was I supposed to be paying attention?_ Pardon me if I no longer sighed over every profound statement that came out of his mouth.

"What?" my vocabulary seemed to be awesome this morning, the book was really helping.

Sam was usually more considerate, he went out of his way to please people. He was a nice guy and had tried to not to cause me any more pain than necessary. I guess sucking up to one of the tribal elders, that would be my mother, outweighed the fact that he knew I did not want to be anywhere near him. Always the good boy, ready to help; at one point it used to be cute, now it was just annoying.

"No way, I would rather walk," I turned away from them and stomped the other way down the street. Not caring which way I went so long as it was away from the happy couple behind me. It was at this point I heard the noise. A motorcycle, a very good one, my wolf hearing could tell it was well tuned, none of that knocking around that sometimes accompanied the poorer quality bikes. I could hear it getting closer, I watched as it appeared around the corner. I did not recognize the bike or the rider. He had a dark helmet on so I could not see his face. The rider seemed to follow my progression down the street and slowed down.

"Leah don't be stubborn," Sam's voice was close, he was not going to let go. Heaven forbid he promise something to my mother and not keep it. I was the only one he broke promises to.

I ignored Sam and continued to march down the street. Out of the corner of my vision I saw the bike doing u-turn and then it stopped next to the curb in front of me so I was heading right towards him. He should be careful Charlie did not like motorcycles and tended to look for any excuse to give them a lecture about bike safety. Fortunately for the biker the chief of police was probably enjoying lunch with my traitor of a mother, so he should be safe for now.

I walked past the biker dude, trying not to make eye contact. I had all the attention I needed, though getting into a fist fight with a biker would certainly suit my mood right now. Unfortunately the way I was feeling right now might be a little unhealthy for him, I might have to kill him.

"Leah I don't know what you think you are going to do," Sam said, he had gotten even closer. "I told your mother we would make sure you got home and that is what I am going to do." The biker boy had distracted me long enough for Sam to catch up with me. Sam grabbed my arm, and I swung back to punch him in the face. I did not pull my punch, I put the full force of all my extra wolf strength behind it. Sam knew me well enough to anticipate the move and easily ducked out of the way.

"Leah." I recognized that distinct voice, I looked over Sam's shoulder. There was the man who ate all his vegetables from the bar sitting on his bike. He had removed his helmet while I was trying to punch Sam, he may have been a few yard away from me but the glint of humor was obvious in his eyes. I could feel the corners of my mouth starting to curl up in response to that look. I watched as he leisurely reached for a compartment behind his seat and pulled something out.

Emily had caught up with us by this time, I noticed her warily eyeing the stranger. She got closer to Sam, his arm around her without having to think about it. Memories of him doing the same thing to me washed over me, and I lost my almost smile. _That will never be you, so get over it Leah. _My heart started thumping, and I blinked hard to stop the tears.

"What?" I growled at the stranger hoping I would not break down and cry. I knew I should have been a little more courteous, this guy had done nothing to me, it was not his fault my life sucked. Except, he was the one that decided to stop and call out my name. _How did he know my name?_ I so did not need this on top of everything else. Great I now had psycho stalker to add to my list of woes.

"What do you want?" A little voice in the back of my head pointed out that I was being a total bi... um shrew. But that little voice also pointed out that the alternative was crying and so my anger was encouraged.

I watched as Sam shifted his body so that he could be between the biker and Emily. They were now standing so close to each other that I could not help but compare the two men; Sam and this stranger. Sam was surprisingly the shorter of the pair, I had not realized how tall this man actually was. Where Sam fell short in height he more than made up in width, the stranger while not a wimp by any means could not compare to Sam when it came to sheer muscles.

I had to give the stranger some credit, he was either extremely brave or stupid. Most people were usually intimidated by Sam, just because of his size alone. They never ignored him when he was glaring with such vehemence. The stranger took one look at Sam and instantly dismissed him unimportant - instead he concentrated his full gaze on me.

The biker was holding something in his hands, it must have been what he pulled out when he stopped. He threw it in my direction, but before I could catch it Sam intercepted the toss with a dark look at me.

"You're welcome, Princess." Wow I loved that voice, even thick with sarcasm. Maybe I should have asked him to read the menu out loud for me, it might have cheered me up a little. _Or gotten you halfway towards an orgasm_ - down, down girl, this is not the time for that.

"What the heck is this?" Sam growled at the stranger. Then he swung his gaze back to me, "how do you know this guy?" He was turning the object in his hand, it was my father's jacket, I guess I had left it at the diner. The biker must have looked for me so he could return it. That was kind of nice, considering my earlier brusk behavior.

Before I could tell Sam to mind his own business, he continued on with his rant. "Never mind, get in the truck Leah."

I had been busy watching as the stranger swung his both his long legs around so he could lean on the bike and face us more comfortably. I was not paying all that much attention to what Sam was saying. Wow biker boy had really really big feet. All right, so I was a healthy nineteen year old, you know where my mind went after that observation. But then I registered Sam's last words, or should I say command; he had used his alpha voice on me. Thank god that no longer worked, but there was a time not too long ago when I had to obey Sam's every order when he used that voice.

Fortunately for me a few weeks ago Sam had given an order that Jacob Black was unwilling to obey, and the strangest thing happened, Jacob Black became an alpha at that moment. For a few seconds there were two alphas in the pack but then to my surprise and delight Jake got Sam to back down. It seemed that Jake was the more powerful alpha of the two, and Sam had had no choice but to yield. Finally he got a taste of his own medicine. Instead of fighting Sam for the leadership Jake left the pack. In the flurry of voices and activity that followed it took me a while to realize that my little brother followed Jake. It did not take long for me to decide I wanted to follow too. Like I said, anything to get away from Sam.

"Are you trying to give me an order?" I had not thought it possible but I think I reached a new level of rage. My hands started to shake because of the pure fury that was coursing through me. _How dare he use his alpha voice on me? He actually tried to use his damn alpha voice on me. _I fumed silently, if looks could kill Sam would be dead on the street right about now.

"You need a ride, princess?" the biker guy interrupted. I had been so furious I had forgotten we had an audience. My biker friend was still leaning on his bike, a small smirk on his face. I am guessing he was enjoying the show we were putting on. I opened my mouth to say where he could shove his offer, when Sam interrupted me yet again. He really was asking for it.

"She is not going anywhere with you." Sam spit out through his teeth.

I took a deep breath and took a step back from Sam. It looked like I had two choices: I could either go with the stranger, who for all I know is a serial killer looking to harvest another set of organs, or I could obey Sam and set a bad precedent.

It did not take me long to decide, it was almost too easy a choice. I could take down biker boy with both hands tied behind my back, I was a wolf not a normal girl. However if I back down to Sam he would never leave me alone, he will think he has the power to boss me around. No way. He gave up that power when he left me for Emily. So I did something stupid, I had been doing a lot of stupid things lately. I looked biker boy up and down with the best leer I could muster and said, "Sure."

"You might want to get your jacket, it gets a little cold on the bike," biker boy pointed out, Sam was still holding onto my jacket. "You left it in the diner."

_How bad could he be?_ I thought to myself. He was nice enough to come find me and give me my jacket. I grabbed it out of Sam's hands, I could see them starting to shake. This was an added bonus, I had not seen Sam this worked up in a while.

"What do you know about this guy?" Sam bit out, wow he sounded pissed. I was enjoying it more than I should. There used to be a time not long ago when I would have done anything Sam asked, he would not even have had to give me an order, a smile would have been sufficient. But those times were over and the sooner he got used to that the better it would be for everyone involved.

"Not much?" I had reached the bike by this point. It had taken me a little longer than normal. I may have added a little hip action to my walk, I might as well show off my new long legs, even if I was wearing someone else's old pants. I put on my jacket before swinging a leg over and sitting behind him. He smelled good, like sweat and soap. I was glad he was not one of those guys that felt the need to douse himself in cologne, my wolf senses really appreciated him for that.

"What is your name?" I asked watching Sam's reaction out of the corner of my eye. Pure bliss, that is what this was.

"Phil," he said as he handed me an extra helmet. "Where to princess?"

"Don't really care where, so long as it is away from here." And that was the honest to god truth. Anything to get away from Sam. That was my new mantra.

"Leah Clearwater, if you don't..." Sam started, but I would not let him finish whatever threats he had thought of.

"Careful Sam, we would not want another bear attack. Right Emily?" I turned away from him, to put on my helmet. Phil quickly started the bike, and off we went.

As we took off, I looked over my shoulder. Sam was really shaking now, if he was not careful he would shift right there. So much for his super control. I did not know where this Phil was taking me and I did not care. I just knew I was leaving Sam behind, if only temporarily. _One day I will find a way to make it permanent._ This was a promise I made to myself.

* * *

**A/N: **Here is another chapter, I have been doing these quickly because all they really need is a bit of rearranging of the words, and of course the correction of the stupid spelling mistakes.

Twilighter: since you keep doing the anonymous reviews this is the only place I can answer. Seth and Sassy are still on, I just can't seem to get into their story right now. I would much rather channel bitchy Leah. But I promise to work on it sometime this week, just for you.


	4. 3  A Ride

Chapter 3: A Ride

I was a young woman sitting on the back of a motorcycle with a complete stranger, both my arms wrapped around his narrow waist as I held on for dear life. This scenario smacked somewhat of a lame horror film. I could provide the monster part, but I would rather stay human for now. So long as Phil behaved himself I would not show him my game face.

_At least you know his name now, Phil_. It seemed wrong to call him that, I would not have picked him to be a Phil. For some reason when I thought of a Phil I pictured a middle aged heavily sweating plumber with a big beer belly and a receding hairline.

We stopped at a red light, I didn't recognize the cross streets, this prompted me to try to find out our destination. "Where are we going?" I asked. He did not respond so I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Where are we going?" I practically shouted when he turned his head to look back at me.

"Now you ask me?" I heard the muffled answer, but he did not tell me our destination. The light turned green and off we went, he really liked accelerating.

A normal human would have been freaking out, but I was not normal. So instead of worrying about where we would eventually end up I decided to enjoy the ride. Wrapping my arms more securely around his waist I took a deep breath and left all my worries behind - at least for the moment. Even if he dropped me off in the middle of nowhere the worst that would happen is that I would have to run back home in wolf form after disposing of his body of course. I surprised myself by smiling at my own joke.

I had never ridden on a motorcycle before, it was a lot different from a car. I could appreciate the engine and the speed in a way that was not possible when driving a car. There was a huge difference between going eighty miles and hour safely inside the steel cage of the car versus on a bike with the pavement less than a foot away from your skin. Not that my mother's honda could get up to the speeds Phil was doing, he seemed to enjoy pushing his motorcycle to its limits. Jake had a motorcycle, I had never been on it, even as a novice I could tell the difference between Jake's and this man's bike.

It was somewhat disconcerting being plastered to a complete stranger's back, I tried not to think about that too much, instead I thought about the sense of freedom. It was almost as good as running as a wolf, not even close to being as fast. One major benefit to the bike over the wolf for was that Jake or Seth could not interrupt my solitude - unlike in wolf form where all they had to do was shift anywhere within several hundred miles and they would be inside my head. Would Jake let me borrow his bike? Maybe it would be best to learn how to ride one first.

I sighed in contentment until I peered over his shoulder and saw the speedometer. Holy crap I knew that we had been going fast but I had not realized it was that fast. Even I would be seriously hurt if anything happened at this speed, he sure was in a hurry to get somewhere. _Maybe back to his place where he can chop you up into itty bitty pieces_. Well he could try to do that but he would not succeed, I smiled slowly as I thought of his surprised look if he tried something along those lines.

Phil turned off the highway, I could feel the bike slowing down - the fact that the pavement was not rushing past us in a blur of grey was another clue. I did not recognize this turn, but then I had not been paying too much attention to where we were going. Getting used to riding on the bike at the high speed required most of my concentration, that and I had been daydreaming about doing this all by myself.

_Come on Leah pay attention to what he is doing_, I told myself. I looked at the road signs, it was one of the public beaches. I could not remember this exact beach, we usually frequented the ones closer to the Reservation, I was more familiar with those ones.

Phil ignored the nicely marked parking lot and rode the bike all the way onto the beach. Past the obvious no motorized vehicles beyond this point sign, he must have failed the road signs test in driving school.

This beach was typical for the region, more rocks than sand. The "sandy" looking portion was actually made up of small rocks and seashells strewn about. There were also some large rocks jutting out of the land, the ocean had not worn away those portions yet. Only a small area of the waterline was free of trees, on both sides of the beach the forest touched the water. The older trees were dipping their branches into the water, a great many of the leaves had already fallen off and were landing in the water.

There was one lonely lifeguard station for the entire beach. It was abandoned at this time of the year, as were the five or so picnic tables dotting the area. Both needed to be repainted, the matching red and white paint was peeling off in large chunks. Paint did not last long around these parts, both the rain and salt wearing away at it very swiftly. I remember my father complaining about the frequency with which he had to repaint everything.

I hopped off the bike, trying to hold onto the elation of going against Sam's orders. The motorcycle ride had helped maintain my glee, but now I needed more. I looked around for a something to take my mind off my miserable life.

Phil was searching around as well, a confused look on his face. I kept expecting him to pick up a rock and start hunting for whatever elusive thing he expected.

"What are you looking for?" I asked not really caring about what his answer might be, I was impressed with the fact that I actually managed to say that without growling. I really needed to hold onto my good mood, I was almost acting like a human being again.

"The beach, did I read the sign wrong?" he replied with confusion in his voice. He walked over to one of the picnic tables and hoped up to sit on the table portion. His legs were long enough that they reached the ground. I watched him pick up some paint chips and throw them towards the water. He had a pretty good throw, he kept hitting the same spot on the rock formation a few yards out over the water.

"This is the beach," I could not help but laugh. It felt good to laugh, he did not seem bothered by the fact that I was laughing at him. He looked up at me and without interrupting his target practice he gave me a small smile. I knew a lot of tourists came expecting the sunny palm tree beaches and instead get the rocky shores.

I took my flip flops off so that I could climb one of the larger rocks. It helped that I had the extra benefit of the werewolf balance and I had gotten used to walking around barefoot. I would not have been able to make this climb otherwise. Phil stood up and brushed the paints bits off the back of his jeans as he followed me to the bottom of the rock; he did not climb up with me, he looked up to meet my my gaze for a moment before moving back to observing the water. I could feel myself falling into the depression again, the high of causing Sam pain wearing off. Phil's expression was neutral again, he was not going to be entertaining, so I looked away from him.

I don't know how long I sat there staring out at the water before he interrupted my thoughts, that was a good thing, I had been starting to think about bad things again.

"That is an awesome right hook you got there Princess. Remind me not to piss you off," there was a great deal of admiration in his voice. It might have been vain, but I liked having a man look at me like that. It had been far too long, I know what the boys of the pack all thought about me. _I used to think she was kind of pretty but not anymore, and it is all her fault, if she were only nice_r.

I tried to hide my smile, "A little piece of advice then, don't call me Princess." There was no need to encourage him, he might think I was a pushover or something.

"What would you like me to call you then?" He asked looking away, this man's serenity was amazing. I could almost feel the waves of calm coming off of him.

"How about my name?" I pointed out the obvious answer to his question.

"Sorry, I have a hard time with names." I don't know how he did it but a look of pure innocence blanketed his expression. I did not believe it for a moment, who did he think he was trying to fool?

"But you can remember Princess? How is that?" It was kind of fun this back and forth banter.

"Well, for one thing you throw a tantrum like a princess." Was that small smile on his lips a way to soften his insult or was he laughing at me?

Jumping down from my rock, I landed less than a yard from him, "I do not throw tantrums." I was in his face now, my temper flaring, it annoyed me to no end that I had look up at him. _He is tall enough that you would never have to worry about wearing too high heels on a date and hurting his manly ego. _All right, where did that thought come from, it was irrelevant at this point. I was trying to win an argument.

He waved his hand in my direction, as if I had just proved his point. I paused for a minute, his impassive demeanor leaching some much needed calm into my brain. Oh crud, did I just jump all the way off the rock? Had Phil noticed this awesome move on my part? I had forgotten about how high that rock was, as a human I should not have been able to make the perfect gymnast landing - both feet at the same time no wobbling. I tried to think of a good reason I had been able to do that, a good reason that did not involve me explaining about being a werewolf.

"And the other reason to call you Princess, is you seem to require a lot of rescuing." He continued calmly like I had not just broken a world record in jumps.

"Ok just once, but don't let it go to your head." I would give him this point, maybe then he would forget about what I had just done.

"For some reason I get the impression you would swiftly deflate any ego." He might have been right about that one, I was not exactly a major ego boost to have around.

"You may not call me Princess!" I may have possibly shouted that at him.

That is when he did it, hit me with his full smile. Of course he would have the perfect smile with the rows of pearly white teeth but that is not what did me in. He had freaking dimples, and not the tiny things you needed a magnifying glass to find. I am talking moon crater sized dimples, ones that should only be found on fat little babies so that you will love them on sight. I don't think I had ever seen a face less likely to have dimples but there they were, there was no denying their existence.

"All right... Princess," he rumbled with that deep voice of his. Whoever had handed out these attributes should have been a little more careful. Those dimples were dangerous and should not be put on full grown men, especially not in combination with that deep voice. For a moment I was utterly beguiled.

I sighed, he was going to call me Princess, it seemed my overreaction had cemented the deal. But what was a little more perplexing is that I was going to let him. It was the dimples, they had saved him from destruction, at least for now.

"So this is a beach huh?" he said continuing our earlier conversation. He might have thought our conversation regarding what he would call me was over, he was probably right.

I looked out towards the water, there was a slight breeze coming in with the tide, it brought with it many different smells. My improved sense of smell was great for finding vampires, but sometimes it could be overwhelming. I could pick apart the entire scent into its individual pieces, currently the most dominant was the water, I could almost taste the salt.

There was the rotting seaweed, the slight smell of gasoline? Had a boat passed by here when I was not looking. I could distinguish several different types of fish smells; call it a side effect of being the daughter of a man that took his fishing seriously. If I squinted my eyes and looked sideways I could pretend to see the fish swimming in the water. Wait there was one, I could see its shinny scales glinting as it came really close to the surface. The air was heavy with humidity, it was going to rain again soon.

As I child I used to sit by the ocean and let the water lap around my toes, I would imagined the water touching the toes of others. My father would tell me if I listened hard enough I would be able to hear the voices. When you made a wish over a wave it would take it up and carry it away until one day the wish reached the right ears. I remember trying to listen for those wishes, maybe the waves would carry someone's wish to me so that I could fulfill it. I tried to listen to the waves now.

I could hear Phil's steady heart beat, it had a funny little skip, maybe he had a heart defect or something. His steady breathing was deep and slow, calm like the rest of him. Beyond Phil I could hear the birds overhead and the little animals scurrying about in the forest. Then there was my favorite sound. I never could find an official word for it so I just called it my tree wave. As a gust of wind moves through the canopy of the forest you can hear the individual leaves rustling, even with my human hearing I could follow the movement of the wind through the trees. If you listen to the rustling you can hear the wind coming at you long before you can feel the breeze on your face. Sometimes I sit on a rock and just listen to the waves of wind as they swelled and crested over the forest disturbing the small leaves. I loved that sound, whatever it might be called.

"Do you know what time it is?" I asked, finally looking back at Phil. He too seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. It was nice that he did not feel disturbed by silence and need to fill it with incessant chatter.

"The time? I don't know. Hold on a sec?" He quickly walked over to his bike, I could hear some sea shells breaking under his large boots.

I would have to go back home soon, especially if I wanted my mother not to find out about this little incident with Sam. Unfortunately for me I knew whose side my mother would take in the scenario and I would come out the loser. Again.

Phil put his key in his bike to check the time.

"It is past time for me to go home. Though if you continue to ride at break neck speed we should be fine." I really did not want this to end, reality was waiting for me at home. I had enjoyed this escape far too much.

"What is the hurry Princess?" he made sure to put extra emphasis on my 'name', it was best to ignore him.

"We are trying to beat my mother home." If I was lucky she stayed to chat with Charlie, he had nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon and since tourist season was winding down my mother could let Jon mind the store.

"Ah say no more," I watched as he pushed his bike back onto the pavement. He kicked some sand off the tires. "Your chariot awaits Princess."

"You know that princess stuff is going to get old real quick," I did not add any venom to my voice, any protests on my part were interpreted by him as encouragement.

"Only for you...only for you; by the way, where am I taking you?" he seemed to enjoy his own joke. He even chuckled a little to himself.

"To the Rez," I told him, but then I remembered he was not from round here. It was disturbing how little I actually knew about this man, but what was even more surprising was how easily I could forget myself with him and not realize he was still a stranger.

I gave him some quick instruction promising to give more details when we got closer to my house. He nodded and after making sure my helmet was on, off we went.

I really should not have mentioned that we had to beat my mother home. He construed my words as a personal challenge and he was not going to let me besmirch his skills. If I thought we had gone fast before it was nothing compared to how fast we went now - I kept my eyes away from the speedometer.

I kept flinching whenever we swerved, especially on some of the turns. I went through scenarios in my head as to how quickly I could disentangle myself from the bike and Phil if anything went wrong. It took me a while to notice that he knew what he was doing. He compensated almost before the motorcycle actually veered off course, I guess this might come from experience.

My mother's car was not in the driveway when we stopped, but Sam's truck was.

Emily was nowhere to be seen, this was a good thing, I did not need to be tortured anymore. Sam was pacing the front porch, he did not avail himself of the two benches, he paced around them instead. My father had built those benches, and my mother had sewn the floral patterned cushions that covered them. The chairs were both comfy and sturdy, Sam should know that, we had spent many nights sitting on them together.

The house was nothing fancy, single story with three bedrooms. My father had been very meticulous in its upkeep, so even thought it was simple it was well maintained. More importantly, it was a home.

I hopped off the bike and handed my helmet back to Phil. I was kind of hoping he would leave now, so that I could really have a good "discussion" with Sam. Phil might be waiting to see if I needed rescuing again, it would be so nice if I could actually explain to him why he should not get in between Sam and me if we got into a fight.

I crossed the yard, some leaves from the quickly denuding trees crunched underneath my flip flops. I guess it was time to rake up the leaves again, I could try and talk Seth into helping me.

"Where have you been?" Sam yelled at me.

"Nowhere, you can go home now. Or are you waiting to tattle to my mother," I shouted right back at him.

He looked insulted at my last comment, that might be a good sign. There was a small chance that my mother would not find out about my joyriding with a stranger. _Nope probably no chance at all_. I was at best delaying the inevitable lecture.

"Just go home Sam," I told him quietly. He looked down at me, and I saw a shadow of my Sam. He understood the pain he was causing me; he might have seen how tired I was: tired of the fighting and the pain, and of going down the path of what might have been. He was a constant reminder to me of the way things were now, and of all the things that would never be.

"I was worried about your daddy with a shotgun, I must say this scenario never crossed my mind," Phil made the quiet observation, interrupting Sam and me. Thankfully he also reminded me we had an audience, with his words Phil saved me from taking yet another trip down memory lane. Maybe Phil was right, I may have needed constant rescuing, mostly from my own dark thoughts.

"Fortunately for you my daddy was a fisherman, and not that much into hunting. But that does not matter, my father died a few months ago. So the risk of you being shot by my daddy is pretty low." I don't think I had ever had to tell anyone that, everyone just seemed to know about my father, this was a very small community. It seemed strange saying it out loud. Despite the fact that I had almost made a joke of it, telling this stranger that my father was dead seemed to make it more real. It was somewhat cathartic to joke about it.

An emotion had crossed Phil's face when I had mentioned my father's death. It came and went too quickly for me to interpret. I watched as a neutral expression settled on his face, I was impressed, I had not seen many people that could clear their expression so swiftly - and most of them were leeches.

Surprisingly I liked being around him. He did not ask too many questions, and more importantly he drove really fast, almost fast enough that I could escape my problems. I could get addicted to that speed, and to the man who gave me my fix.

"What about your family?" I tried to turn the tables on him, I still did not know anything about this man.

"My family?" he looked confused for a second. "Yeah they would shoot you if I brought you home. Nothing personal, my mother does not like people. She would not use a shotgun, she would probably use a sniper rifle, just to make sure you were dead." He used such matter of fact tone that almost made me think he was serious.

"Is your father still alive?" I was diligently ignoring Sam pacing on the porch. He was probably impatiently waiting for Phil to leave so he could continue the lecture. I turned more fully back to Phil, trying to intently listen to every word. I tried to appear as interested in him as I possibly could. Maybe I was not completely faking my interest. I might care a little, plus there was that gorgeous voice of his.

"My father? Oh yeah he is still alive. He has tried several novel ways of committing suicide but fortunately for him they never seem to work. He calls it part of being an adrenaline junkie. Luckily we tend to be a long lived bunch - good genes and all that jazz - we rarely get sick. Well we had a few die young but usually they were from "unnatural" causes, if you know what I mean. For example, my grandfather died very heroically saving a young girls life." Something amused him about that story.

_ "_That is nice, well kind of. Your family must be proud." I did not know quite how to respond to the humor in his voice.

"Not really, my grandmother was furious with him for dying on her. Sometimes I think he died just to get away from her." He stated this with a little laugh.

"Huh?" Maybe he his family did take the prize for being strange._ Nope mine can shape shift into wolves, mine still wins the prize for weirdest, hooray for me. Is there some sort of reward for winning?_

"Grandma has a few quirks, but who doesn't when you get as old as she is?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe you should go visit her, she might be missing you?" Sam interrupted, he was not exactly subtle in his hints.

"I just visited her a few days ago, she was doing great, still as sharp as ever. She did commend me for taking some time off work to relax. Life is short and all that." Phil laughed a little as he said this. It looked like Sam's rudeness was not going to ruin his happy mood.

"Well maybe you should go enjoy your vacation." I guess Sam was not going to let this go. I looked over at him, he had stopped pacing to glare at Phil.

"Maybe I will, have a good afternoon Princess. " He nodded at me as he reached back for his helmet.

"Bye Phil, thanks for the ride. It was fun, we might have to do that again." The manners I had been taught finally kicked in and I behaved almost like the young lady I supposedly was. Sam looked over at me like I had sprouted fangs all of a sudden. _What? I could be polite._

"Anytime, see you later." Phil said as he adjusted his helmet. I got the impression from the tone of his voice that his words were more than just a polite goodbye. Maybe I would see him later, I could almost look forward to that.

Reluctantly I turned back to the porch, time to deal with Sam.

* * *

A/N: Someone made the helpful suggestion that I interrupt with too many memories. Hopefully this flowed a bit better.

PS: Twilighter, I tackled Seth and Sassy's yesterday afternoon for a little bit. Seth bet that he could pick more apples than Sassy. Should he win and if he does what should he ask for? Heehee.


	5. 4 A Plan

Chapter 4: A Plan

I really had not wanted to turn back around and deal with Sam, but it had to be done and fast - preferably before my mother came home. "See I am all safe, he did not turn out to be a serial killer. Your can go away now."

"Leah I don't know what happened to you, you used to be such..." he came down from the porch so that he could glare down at me.

"Yeah, yeah but now I am bitch. Get over it." I was not going to let him finish that sentence. What had being a 'nice girl' earned me? Oh yeah, I was made a fool of and my boyfriend left me for my best friend. Yeah, it really pays to be good.

Sam realized that he was not going to get anywhere with that old argument so he moved onto the next topic, "and what the hell took you so long. I have been waiting here for over an hour. What were you doing with him?"

"Nothing much, we just stopped for a while." He was acting like I was obligated to explain myself to him.

"You do realize you are a young girl. Do you have any idea what he could have done to you? I am responsible.." seriously was he always such a stick in the mud or was this a more recent development.

"Oh hell no, you are not responsible for me. So you can stop this right now. You are not my father, so let me repeat it for you. Just in case you did not hear me the first thousand times: WHAT I DO IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" I roared that last part, but there was no other way to make him understand.

"You could have been raped.." he continued like I had not even spoken.

Finally I had enough. "You know what they say. You can't rape the willing." I gave him a happy smirk trying to imply that something actually had happened between Phil and I.

Sam's face got really red and he started spluttering. This would have been awesome if it was not for the fear that my mother could return at any moment. "So if he pulled us into a secluded spot by the side of the road, bent me over his bike...which by the way is the perfect height to be bent over... and fucked me till I screamed his name. It...is... still...none...of...your business! Now stop harassing me about it, you are ruining my post orgasmic high."

If you have ever seen one of those cartoon characters where their eyes bug out of their face in surprise, well Sam was doing a fairly good impression of that. "Leah I can't believe you would... is that why he called you Princess. Or was it because he could not even be bothered to learn your name?"

"I never realized you had to know a girl's name to have sex with them," I pointed out throwing more fuel on the fire.

It took some cursing and then finally just plain pushing before I finally got rid of Sam. Seth had come home from school and got to hear the tail end of our argument, though based on the volume of our shouting the entire reservation probably heard what we said.

Seth knew better than to interrupt and had quickly disappeared inside the house. I could hear him muttering to himself about evil teachers not understanding the important things in life. Because of all the school he had missed in the past few weeks Seth had to attend Saturday detention on top of having to catch up with all the schoolwork. He was not at all happy about this situation. There was a good reason for skipping school, too bad it was not one he could share with his teachers. I knew he thought it was worth it, though it did not mean he enjoyed the extra work he had to put in.

Leaving my brother to his homework, I went for a run through the forest. It was more fun in wolf form, the speed of the bike could not compare to the wolf. With Jake still at the leeches' home admiring his little mate and Seth trying to tackle his mountain of homework I knew my solitude would not be interrupted for a few more hours.

For a few seconds I considered trying to track down Phil to see where he was going, that might give me a little more information about the man but too much time had passed for me to find him without putting in a great deal of effort. So I ran through the forest with no particular destination in mind, enjoying the smell of rain on the leaves - everything smelled clean and fresh. I just wish the darkness surrounding me could be washed away as easily. By the time I got back to the house my mother's car was in the driveway. She did not ask me how I had made it home, I was hoping she thought it was Sam. I was not technically lying to her, it was not my fault if she made the wrong assumption. I helped her set the table for dinner, a small fraction of guilt may have induced me to be a little more helpful than usual.

It was a quiet family dinner, no one was talking much beyond the "pass me the salt" conversation. My brother was trying to inhale his food, this was not out of the ordinary; it took a great deal of sustenance to maintain a wolf. All of a sudden I started considering my mother, how much was the grocery bill, she had two wolves to feed. My mother seemed a little distracted, maybe she was thinking of all the new things Charlie had learned and how best to keep him in the dark about the rest; maybe she was thinking about how to pay for the groceries.

"So who is this new guy that raised Sam's hackles?" my little brother asked as he paused in his shoveling of food. I looked up at him with a horrified stare, the question had been directed at me but he was not making eye contact. The little bastard had to know that he was about to get me in serious trouble. Seth had been pretty much the only person who had managed to stay off my shit list - with one stupid comment he just lost that honor.

"New guy?" My mother looked up, her fork still full of peas stopped midway to her mouth. Suddenly I had her full attention, I tried to clear my face of the guilt that I am sure was glaringly obvious.

"So mom, I was thinking maybe it was time for me to get a know contribute some, help pay a little into the bills." I tried to change the subject onto something else, anything was preferable to discussing my argument with Sam. My mother tended to take Sam's side on most arguments, she had not approved of my recent change in attitude.

I watched as my mother's eyes narrowed in contemplation. I had set off the mom alarms, I sounded a little too enthusiastic about looking for a job. There was one good thing about it, I guess this answered my question. Sam had not ratted me out. I gave my brother a look that promised retribution, and soon. He continued eating, a goofy grin on his face. Unfortunately for me not much phased Seth, which was great under usual circumstanced but not so good when I was trying to threaten him with dismemberment and maiming.

"Sam seemed upset about Leah hanging out with some new guy this afternoon." Seth added with a helpful tone. So I guess he had been listening to what Sam and I were talking about. I quickly ran down the list of tortures I could subject Seth to until I realized my mother was waiting for more information. My little brother's punishment would have to wait until after I dealt with my mother.

"It was no one important mom," I mumbled trying to downplay it as much as possible, I was not angry at this stranger for the problems this would cause with my mother. No, I knew who rightfully deserved my anger, and that would have been Sam. He should have minded his own business, and stayed away from me. That was the least he could do for me, he owed me that much.

"Well who is he?" My mother asked politely, too politely.

"Just some tourist." If I acted casually hopefully my mother would not find out the entire story.

"If he was just a tourist, why was Sam upset about him?" My mother was too intelligent for her own good.

"You know how Sam gets, paranoid to the max." I had just figured out my strategy. Tell her a truth but not necessarily the full truth. Sam was majorly paranoid, my mother knew this well, just a few weeks ago he tried to kill a human girl just because she might have possibly presented a potential problem.

Fortunately for me my mother dropped it after giving me a long look. I held her gaze, knowing it would prove my guilt if I looked aways. Unfortunately she took my bait. "So what is this about getting a job?"

"Well I was just thinking about it mom. You know since I can't go to school this semester." In the past I had spent most of my summer vacation working at my parents store.

"And whose fault is that?" For some reason my mother blamed me for leaving Sam's pack a few weeks back. She did not blame Seth, even though he had missed several weeks of school. Life was so unfair sometimes.

I picked up my fork and continued my dinner, I had learned earlier there was nothing I could say on the subject that would justify my actions. I was not about to pick up the stick to beat this dead horse again. My mother made a noise under her breath and she too continued her dinner.

"So I was thinking I could go to Forks Library tomorrow and see if there are any openings online." The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of getting a job, it would most certainly get me closer to independence and leaving the Reservation. Where before there was nothing more I wanted to do rather than come back and settle down around here, now there was nothing I wanted to do more than never see this place again.

"There is always work to do at the store." My mother worked at one of the little buildings next to he marina, in fact my parents owned the small business. They would rent out one of their small fleet of boats, or they would take people on whale watching tours. It was great business in the summer, towards the fall and winter it tended to wane. Which was when my parents spent most of their time doing the handcrafted little bits and pieces of tourist crap that they would then sell when the tourist season came again. My mother had hired an extra man, Jon, to help out since both her kids had wolf duties and we were not as reliable as she needed. Plus since my father had passed away, he was not there anymore to share the burden of the store.

It used to surprise my friends that my father had done a lot of the beads, he could make absolutely amazing pieces of jewelry from some fishing line and colored bits of glass and plastic. I remember spending many a winter watching him and trying to learn his tricks. He had learned this art from his mother, who had learned it from her mother and so on.

"What can I help with, mom? Tourist season is almost at an end." I pointed out the obvious.

"Well Jon needs help cleaning the boats at night, and then you were always good at making the beads, maybe this winter you could make some necklaces and bracelets to sell come next spring." My mother was always practical. "And as the season finishes up you could help get the boats ready for winter."

"I will see mother." It was a good offer, I had to consider it. True I would not get money out of it once I started to make the necklaces but I could do my own hours which would be great considering I never knew when I would have to stop working to take care of wolf matters. The downside is that I would be forced to report to my mother, all the time. But if I needed some time off to deal with the wolf stuff my mother would understand, she knew my secrets.

I used the excuse that I had patrol duty from midnight to six to head to bed early, and to get away from my mother. I was afraid she might bring up Phil again.

Jake had "rented" us out to Sam, it was all for the good of the tribe or so he said. I had to run patrols again. It was not really safe for us to run patrols with members of Sam's pack since we could not hear them, so it was usually Jake and I. Seth would join us when he caught up a little more on his schoolwork. I have to admit I did not miss the constant chatter of the entire pack, Jake tended to be a little more respectful of my privacy. Some of the others did not know how to keep their thoughts to themselves, especially Paul. I so did not miss Paul.

I fell asleep for the first time in a long while with a glimmer of hope in my future. I would get away, I would find a job and then maybe get enough money to get the heck out of here.

I woke up about an hour before my patrol began with Jake, no one else was awake. I could hear Seth's soft snores in the next room as well as my mother's across the hall. She seriously needed to do something about that noise, I had read somewhere that snoring can be a sign of more serious health problems. I padded quietly to the kitchen to look for something to eat. Dinner had only been a couple of hours ago but running took a lot of energy - I had gotten enough of the raw stuff in the past couple of weeks to last me a lifetime. There is nothing more disgusting than fur and slimy rabbit bits going down your throat.

Looking in the fridge and deciding the leftovers were not that appetizing I decided to 'make' something to eat - which in my case meant cereal. It was a running joke among my family that I could not cook.

Grabbing a plastic bag I headed towards the woods, I did not bother with any shoes since soon I would take all my clothes off. Putting my clothes in the plastic bag to protect them from the damp weather I hid it behind a bush. _Hey Jake are you there? _I thought loudly as soon as I shifted, but there was no reply. It had been a quarter to midnight when I had left the house so we still had a few minutes left before out patrols officially began.

Enjoying the few more minutes of solitude I ran at full speed towards Jake's house, sticking mostly to the wooded areas. It was against tribal custom to shoot wolves, but since most members of the tribe did not know the real reason for this rule it was best not to be seen. Plus as big as some of the boys were they might be mistaken for a bear, and out here in the country everyone had a gun of some sort. It might not kill us but an ass full of shotgun pellets would hurt like hell.

_So who is this "tourist"? _Jake thought at me as soon as I felt him shift.

_Jeez, hello to you too._ _Is there a werewolf gossip hotline, or a secret TV channel I don't know about?_ Jake should learn to mind his own business, and not try to pick out what he wanted to know from my brain.

_What else is there to talk about? Especially since Sam is in such a tizzy. _I heard him go through the list of things he was interested in. I did not want to hear about how cute and smart Nessie was, or how much she was growing. That was something that was bugging Jake a great deal, Nessie seemed to be aging too quickly, the way things were going now she would be an old lady in a few years time. I felt sorry for Jake, I should not think about it too much - considering we were sharing thoughts. I liked Jake, sort of, he was one of the few people that could understand what it was like to me. He had been left behind by the girl he loved.

I could feel Jake's thoughts echoing mine, he was picturing Nessie with grey hair and wrinkles. He was starting to depress me, so I decided to change the subject; Jake needed to think about something happier. So I started to contemplate the pros and cons of tampons versus pads. _For heavy days I really preferred ..._

_Ewww please, please stop_. Jake whined in my head. Yeah I knew how to torture, there was nothing a guy hated more than hearing about some girl's period. _It is not like you use them anymore, you stopped doing all that stuff._ Jake pointing this out to me was not very helpful, especially since I had started all this to make him feel better.

_ There you go reminding me again of how much my life sucks. _He finally caught up with me as we headed for Quil's house to make a formal exchange of patrol duties. Sometimes being cut off from communications with the other pack was a pain, but these few instances were so worth the peace of the smaller pack.

Jake stepped outside the woods and gave a nod of acknowledgement towards Quil before running off into the forest. I took off at a full run, passing Jake, he might be bigger but I was faster. I slowed down to hop across a larger stream. I really hated getting my paws wet so I concentrated on that for a minute, that gave Jake enough time to catch up. Of course he just plowed through, splashing water everywhere including on me.

_Look on the bright side_, Jake started, but I interrupted his thoughts. I had gotten good at this lately, especially when I did not want to hear something.

_Have you been smoking the same stuff as my brother, is this why you all of a sudden developed this annoying optimism?_ Jake had not been smoking anything, I knew why he was so happy, the imprinting. It was a miracle, about a week ago he was in a worse place than me. Then wham he sees Nessie and everything in the world is perfect. It was somewhat sickening to watch, especially the length with which he went to protect her. He even let Nessie bite him, it was a good thing she was not venomous, according to legend vampire venom was poison to our kind.

_ As I said look on the bright side, you can do dangerous things that a normal girl could never do. Like hop on a bike with a complete stranger. _Jake was about as subtle as a rhinoceros when it came to trying to change the subject.

We both knew that I would trade all of my wolf skills and abilities to go back to being normal. We always want what we can't have. In my defense if it was not for the werewolf thing I would not have had a reason to escape Sam. So I would not need to accept a ride from a strange man.

_So I heard you rode on a bike, was it not awesome?_ Jake was not always the most subtle person, but I could appreciate him attempting to change the subject.

_His bike is a lot faster than yours._ I admit the tone of my thoughts was smug.

This shut Jake up for a while, he contemplated catching a snack. Much to my disgust he stuck his nose to the ground and tried to pick up the scent of something to eat.

We continued our circuit around the Rez, it was a complete waste of time in my opinion but I was not in charge. Back in my fully human days I used to think the woods were completely silent at night, now I knew better. There was really no way to describe what it felt like to run through the dark woods late at night, listening to the sounds of the animals moving around. They heard us coming, no matter how silent we were they seemed to have a sixth sense that told them to freeze as we approached. That was just the sounds, now the smells were different too, we would run so fast that at times I did not really register what I had smelled for a mile or so after I had passed it. Sometimes that was a good thing, I did not want to know what I had just stepped in.

It took him a while but Jake finally tracked down a couple of rabbits to eat, they were pretty plump, fat and ready for winter. They no longer needed to worry about surviving the winter. I tried not to think too much about it as Jake devoured the entire rabbit.

After he had satisfied his hunger, he went back to thinking about my tourist. _What do you mean his bike was faster?_

Ah the male ego strikes again: what do you mean his is bigger? I got a full interrogation regarding the bike, what kind of bike was it? A bike, with two wheels. What kind of engine did it have? A fast one, well a really really fast one.

I had failed appallingly in getting all the details about the bike. For a moment I let my thoughts go to the details I could remember. His voice, was the number one on my list and the dimples. Jake interrupted my thoughts at that point with major gagging noises.

_So you think he is hot_, Jake was thinking about what I had shown him regarding Phil.

_Yeah he is, want to come over to my house later and we can do each other's hair and nails. I give a mean pedicure._ He seriously did not want to talk boys, did he?

_ Oh come on, I hate this more than you do, but think about it, maybe you can... I don't know, date him. Do that rebound thing. _Jake had this entire scenario planned out, I would date this guy and turn happy all of a sudden. I could hear all the plans he had in his thoughts. I was surprised he was not picking out the color for the bridesmaid dress he was going to wear. I was thinking something in pale lilac that would go well with his skin tone, empire waisted of course, with a pale green ribbon to give it extra color.

_Hey, I was just trying to help. It was only a suggestion._ Jake had finally saw me putting the baby's breath and roses in his hair.

_This man could be a serial killer and you are just throwing me at him._ Though I had to admit Phil had been exceptionally kind to me, more kind than my initial behavior towards him deserved. He had gone out of his way to find me and return my jacket and had even offered me a ride. Most guys would have just turned tail and gotten the heck out of dodge when Sam glared at them.

_See he is a nice guy_, Jake interrupted.

_So you want me to use some nice guy and then throw him away when I am done with him?_ For a moment I considered this scenario, it would be entertaining for a while; but I would not do to this stranger what was done to me. _For some reason he struck me more like a bad boy than a good boy, he probably knows how to take care of himself,_ I told myself. I was so vain, what made me think this guy would want to go out with me? Especially after the first impression I must have made - angry girl, willing to get in your face and yell. I do not even know if I will ever see him again.

_Yeah it sucks being used and then left for someone else. _Jake knew what I was talking about, Bella had kind of used him for a rebound, until her Edward came back. Jake quickly dropped it after that, he could remember how much it sucked to be used in that way.

A/N: Thank you ladies for the encouragement and the criticism.

ABarbieStory: To answer your question yes we will be seeing more of Phil, but no he will not be taking Leah away from La Push; she has to do that for herself. I am glad you like Phil, as for what his kin folk are or are not you will just have to wait and find out.

GothChiq80: Glad you liked the story the first time around though I don't know how you read it with all the typos. Though I am sure it is still riddled with them despite of the fact that I do try to proofread a couple of times before I post.

Tonshii519: What was Phil thinking in the chapter when he gives Leah a ride?

What a pretty girl maybe I can take her home and chop her into little bitty pieces- all right, that was obviously a joke. I cannot come out and say everything because this is supposed to be from Leah's point of view but there might be clues that he gives Leah that she totally misses.

I altered the beginning of this chapter to show you Sam's reaction to Phil calling Leah Princess - thanks for the idea.

Sailor Alpha tomboy: Glad you liked it :D.

Twilighter: Thanks for the suggestions regarding my favorite Jailbait, I will keep them in mind. But ask Sassy to let him feel her up, he is far too much of a gentleman to ask that - even though he would really love to do that :D.


	6. A picnic

4- Not a date

My mother was already awake when I stepped in the back door, she was typing away at the ancient computer that inhabited a corner of four living room. "How were patrols? You are kind of late getting home."

I was exhausted and hungry which did not equate to quick thinking or complete sentences for that matter. "Oh yeah, went out really far, nothing wrong."

"There is some breakfast being kept warm in the oven," she explained as I started heading towards the bedroom. My mind might not have been at one hundred percent but my stomach was, it grumbled as soon as she mentioned food. Changing my destination I moved to see what goodies my mother had made. After breakfast, a short nap, and a long hot shower I was starting to feel human again. Seth was on the computer writing up something for his English class, so my mother was kind enough to let me borrow her car.

I spent most of the afternoon writing up my meager resume and searching the newspaper classifieds for any jobs. Monday morning I headed back to Forks, my freshly printed out resumes in hand and an uncharacteristic smile on my lips.

As I drove into town I adjusted my skirt, it had been a while since I had gotten dressed up. Nothing in my wardrobe fit so I had to borrow one of my mother's old khaki skirts, it was a little wide around the waist but the color was right, I was also wearing one of my father's button up shirts. I was going to have to make do with the only shoes I had other than flip flops, a worn pair of tennis shoes. They had new laces and I had cleaned them yesterday in anticipation of my big day. Given a choice between flip flops and tennis shoes, I had decided the shoes would be more professional looking. Top this off with my father's old jacket and who could resist hiring me.

My first stop in the job hunt was the local grocery store. It was large enough, surely they were hiring all the time. The woman in customer service, Judy was her name according to her name tag, took my resume and had me fill out their general application form. I used my summers spent working at my parent's store for cashier experience. Judy noticed this, I could see her blade like nose twitching as she looked it over. She had several employee of the month stars pinned to the front of her shirt, I could not detect the reason why she had been given this honor. It certainly was not for her customer service skills if this was her usual behavior.

"How can you have this much experience, you are not old enough." I could tell if she had anything to do with it my application was going to disappear into the trashcan as soon as I left.

I took a deep breath and told myself I needed a job, and it would not do to tell my potential future employer where she could stick it. "I helped out at my parents store during the summer."

Judy made a little note in the margin of my application. "We will call you if we are interested."

"I will be waiting right next to the phone." So maybe some of my sarcasm leaked out, she had worn my patience a little thin.

The hardware store owner was worse. I had actually been hopeful, there was an ad in the local paper announcing a job opening. There was even a sign hanging on the front window, "Help Wanted" it had said. Apparently I was not the help they wanted.

"Well you have no experience with our products, customers come in here expecting a certain amount of knowledge." He told me when I approached him about the help wanted sign.

"Larry, where are those new halogen bulbs?" a customer interrupted our interview.

"Right next to the regular light bulbs." the hardware store owner stated.

"Hmm, thanks I will look there." the customer, wandered off to find his lightbulbs. Yeah I could tell it would take a lot of expertise.

I know rejection hurt but for some reason it had hurt worse that it was done by a guy wearing a pair of overalls. Who over the age of five wore overalls?

I went home somewhat despondent, I had spent most of the morning and part of the afternoon with no success.

"How was the job hunt?" My mother asked when I got home. She was at her desk doing some paperwork, she usually came home Monday afternoons to catch up on the accounts from the weekend. It would amaze people if they knew how much paperwork actually went into running a business.

"Not so well," I sighed, flopping down on the couch. I kicked off my shoes, they landed somewhere in the vicinity of the door. Jake and I had done the midnight to six in the morning patrols again so I was a little tired.

"Are you giving up already?" She seemed somewhat surprised at my easy capitulation.

"Not yet, I have a few more options but I really needed to get some sleep." Just sitting here on the couch I could feel my eyes drooping. I must have fallen asleep right there on the couch because the next thing I knew Seth was poking my shoulder.

"Hey Leah, stop drooling on the couch." I heard him saying. I jumped a little and rubbed my face. My hand came back wet, I guess Seth had not been exaggerating, I had been drooling.

"Seth come set the table and leave your sister alone, let her sleep," I could hear my mother speaking from the kitchen.

"No, I am awake," I pushed myself off the couch, it was getting dark outside, how long had I been asleep?

My mother questioned me about my job applications that night over dinner, the nap I had taken on the couch helped me actually answer in coherent sentences. I spent the third, and luckily last night of this week, going on patrol with Jake. I told him to bug off and leave me alone as soon as he shifted, he was smart enough not to test me. Well bug was not the word I actually used.

The next day continued to look for a job, this time I hit up the smaller shops. There were several boutique like places, I kind of felt like the bull in the china shop when I went inside them. I knew it would probably not work out but I was somewhat desperate.

Needless to say no one jumped at the opportunity to hire me; maybe it would be better if I take the job offer my mother made me. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush, as the saying went. At least I would get some money, and I would not have to figure out how to get to work everyday without a car.

A sort of depression settled over me as I drove back to the Reservation. I went straight to my mother's store. I may as well tell her the good news, she just acquired a new employee.

I parked in the rear of the small building, right next to the back entrance. My mother did not want us parking in the front, that was for potential customers. I walked through the back storage room dodging empty boxes, paint and the other odds and ends required to maintain boats. It smelled strongly of fish back here, bringing back memories of being out on the water with my father.

I had just kicked some old fishing nets out of the way when I heard someone talking to my mother, I recognized that voice.

What was _he_ doing here? And more importantly, what was he talking to my mother about?

I walked through the doorway that led to the front of the shop. Yup, I had not imagined it, there he was leaning up against a counter, I had forgotten just how tall the man was. I had not forgotten that voice, it was just as rumbly as I remembered. He was wearing jeans again, this time paired with a dark blue t-shirt. The dark color went well with his skin tone, but I was willing to be he was not aware of that fact - he struck me as the type of guy that would pick his clothes based solely on the fact that it was the first clean shirt he could get his hands on.

His black hair was no longer tied in a ponytail, instead it fell in straight thick chunks around his face - it added some much needed softness to that hard face, not that it was fully able to hide that strong jaw. His hair was not as long as I had predicted the other day, just and inch or two beyond his broad shoulders. My first impression was that Phil was not conventionally good looking, and that I was willing to stand by that observation - but he sure as hell was sexy, especially when he was smiling in that understated way. Lips curling up slightly only at the edges. I had read books describing these types of people, the ones that could easily overlooked but got more and more interesting as you got to know them.

His looks were not what was bothering me, no it was the fact that he was speaking to my mother. I forced myself to look away from Phil, so that I could asses how much damage he had done. Mother was calmly sitting on the other side of the counter, talking with him, in a pleasant voice I might add.

"Good afternoon, Leah," he met my eye over my mother's shoulder. I really liked the way he said my name, and wow impressive his memory must have improved. It was a miracle he could actually remember my name. Oh crud, I needed to focus on what was important, I was trying to read the situation. How much had he told my mother?

"Oh hello Leah, how did the job hunt go?" Mother turned around on her stool to smile at me. I did not see anger or suspicion in her face, that was a good thing, but also very confusing.

"Not well, one woman actually had the audacity to tell me I was too tall for the job." I was trying to act normal and guiltless. Maybe she was waiting for Phil to leave before she ripped into me, but she seemed far too pleasant for that.

"You should call the ACLU, they cannot discriminate against you for that." Phil added helpfully. His tone was serious but when I looked at his face I could see the tightening around his lips, he was trying not to smile. He succeeded for a few seconds but then the dimples popped out. Hmm I never knew I had such a dimple fetish, maybe it was a recent development.

"What are you doing here?" I asked in an accusing tone, my mother gave me a questioning look. Oh crud, maybe he had not said anything and now I had ruined everything. But wait he had identified me by name when I had first walked in, so it was his fault.

"I went by your house earlier, but on one was home. A helpful neighbor directed me here, and I found your mother." He said with a smile, my mother looked back at him, and returned his smile. I took the opportunity to glare at him and try to tell him to get lost in gestures only.

"Yes, it was nice meeting your tourist, Leah," my mother said with a suggestive tone. So she had put two and two together. But why was she not angry?

"I came to see if you wanted to have dinner with me." Phil was looking at me while he said this but I got the impression that he was asking my mother's permission as well.

The conversation I had with Jake came back at me, for one wild moment I thought about what it would be like to use this guy. Ok, time to pull the mind out of the gutter and face reality. He did not treat me like potential girlfriend material, he harassed me too much. Sleep deprivation was catching up with me and I could not think all that clearly.

"Uhhh, I don't think I am really dressed well," I said looking down at myself. I was not even wearing my own clothes, how much lower could a girl possibly get?

"You will be fine." he said looking me up and down, I watched a smile appear on his face as he got down to my tennis shoes.

"Leah can I talk to you for a minute?" My mother gave me a look, and I reluctantly followed her into the back room. Here we go, time for the lecture. I looked back at Phil who had a happy smirk on his face; I was going to make him pay for this. My glare said as much, but he just wagged his eyebrows at me. He obviously did not know me well enough to realize what my glare meant.

My mother moved far enough into the back so that Phil would not overhear us, "Leah, what do you know about this man?"

"He seems nice enough, but I don't know him all that well. He is not from around here." I shrugged that was about all I knew. At least all I was willing to share with my mother, no need to mention his need for setting land speed records on a motorcycle.

My mother paused for a second looking unsure of herself, which was strange, she never hesitated. She opened her mouth to ask me another question but she closed it again.

"Mom?" she was starting to worry me.

"This man is a perfect stranger if you feel unsure about him I can be the strict mother that will not let her daughter go out." For some reason she suddenly decided to be the protective mom. Like I would need protection from some human man.

"He is just a human mom, I can take him down even without trying. The hardest part will be leaving him uninjured if he ever gets me angry" I snorted, the possibility of my needing protection from a human was funny.

She smiled a little, but then she got serious again "Leah, sometimes the physical damage is nothing compared to what they do to our spirits."

I finally understood, she was trying to protect me from this man, so my mother might have been looking out for me all along - I had been too self-involved to notice. "No mother I did not imprint on him if that is what you are asking. You would think I would be a little happier if I had."

It may just have been my imagination but she looked somewhat disappointed. Why would she want me to imprint on this stranger, was there something she knew that I didn't? How had Phil charmed my mother, she was not stupid. My mother hesitated yet again, searching for the right words, "it is just that recently you have been a little better."

"That is because I am starting to formulate a plan to get out of here." Away from the Rez, away from Sam - that was my plan and I was sticking to it.

Mother flinched a little at my words, "you will have to keep the secret, Leah. You cannot tell Phil anything about the tribe."

"Yeah mom I know. I don't want to be locked up in some government science lab and cut into little pieces." I knew how to behave around humans.

I left my mother there in the back, a worried look on her face.

"Are you coming?" Phil asked me when he saw me.

"Yeah, sure I have nothing better to do." Except sit at home and contemplate my crappy life. Why are you lying, I actually looked forward to going out with Phil. Plus he had mentioned there was food involved, who was I to turn down food?

For a second I thought I saw a look of triumph on Phil's face but it was quickly cleared for a smile. I must have just imagined it, maybe I should take a raincheck and go take a nap instead.

He led me out the door, it was then that he looked down at me frowning. "Don't you need a jacket, you might get cold," he had put his back on while I was talking to my mother.

I looked down at myself, the jacket I did not need was still in the car. That was when I noticed the skirt I was wearing, how could I have forgotten about that? There was no way I was going to go on a bike. I sighed more disappointed than I had should have been - it was just dinner and he had not made it even sound like a date or anything. I had anticipated a momentary break from my life; this stranger who knew nothing about my problems seemed to be adept at helping me to forget.

"I can't go with you, I am wearing a skirt." I pulled on the offending garment.

"I had noticed that. I don't normally hang out with girls who wear skirts. Well, unless they are really, really short... the skirt, not the girl." He smiled down at me and I felt my mood lift a little. Phil reminded me a little of my brother, at least how Seth would be after a few years of seasoning. Always happy, both of them. I laughed a little, the two were nothing alike, one was a boy and the other a man.

"I can't ride a bike with a skirt on." I pointed out the obvious.

"It would be fun to see you try, fortunately for you I did not bring the bike. Mothers tend to object when I try to make off with their daughter on a bike." He moved his hand to my lower back and gave me a little push. It was gentle enough, but tired as I was it would have knocked me over if I had not had wolf reflexes. Phil had pretty quick reflexes too, he moved to catch me almost immediately. "Sorry Princess, let's just get you off your feet."

I looked around and did not see his bike, instead there was a small white nissan truck, it had a huge tool box in the back. If it was like anything like other men's trucks, the tools inside were worth more than the truck.

He opened the door for me to get in. Why was he being such a gentleman? "Who are you and what did you do with the Phil I knew?"

"Your mother is watching, so try to behave." He motioned with his head to the window of the shop.

I quickly looked up to see he was right, my mother was right up against the window. She was not even bothering to hide the fact that she was staring right at us.

"I take it you have done this before?" I sat pulled my feet into the truck, he still had his hand on the door as if he was going to go full out and close the door for me like a true gentleman.

"Not really, I usually don't hang around schoolgirls. But I figured if I was a parent and some guy came to take my precious little daughter there would be certain standards that would have to be met." His curling of the lips smile was back.

My smile was a little more obvious at the compliment, he had thought about me and had come up with a plan to avoid trouble with my mother. I deliberately chose to ignore the schoolgirl part of his comment.

Instead of heading for the drivers's door he went to the back to rummage in the toolbox, quickly he pulled out a big grey piece of fabric. He gave it to me when he got in the truck, "that is one of my favorites so I want it back."

"What?" I was a lot more tired than I had anticipated, I was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation.

"You seem to have this thing for loosing your outerwear, so I am telling you to keep up with that one." I watched as he started the truck.

He waited patiently until I got the sweatshirt on and my seatbelt fastened before pulling out of the parking space. "So tell me, where is the coolest beach you got?" he asked as he backed up. The engine of the truck sounded as well tuned as his bike, none of these banging sounds I had gotten used to hearing these days.

I quickly gave him directions to one of my favorite places. It was a little ways off the regular roads, I liked it because very few people went there. Not that there would be too many people at the beach at this time.

He drove at a much slower speed, keeping well within the speed limit. He kept up a minimal amount of conversation, but it was mainly observations about the area we were passing through. I did not think he wanted much of my input, so I did not expend the energy to keep up my side of the conversation.

I noticed there was a couple of baskets by my feet, with a blanket on top of it. I was curious but I did not ask him about it, I was saving it for a little bit later.

"Nice truck," I told him, it was nice and clean on the inside, like he had cleaned it very recently. I could still smell the cleaning products, I was a little suspicious that he was going out of his way to be nice to me.

"Oh this is not mine." he said with a smile.

"Stolen?" He had slowed down to a near crawl at this point, we were heading closer to the cliffs. The view of the ocean and cliffs peaking out from between the trees was amazing - no matter how jaded a person was they could not look at this picture and be unaffected. It was mother nature at the her wildest, and in my opinion at her most beautiful.

"Would you believe borrowed?" It took him a while to answer. I noticed he was looking at the path more closely now, it had narrowed down to practically a one lane dirt road.

"Tell that to the police." I looked outside, I had been so involved in my own problems I had forgotten how beautiful this place was. Fall had crept up on me while I was not looking, the trees were slowly changing. The forest was dotted with oranges, reds, and even some browns. How had I missed this, come to think of it, I had missed summer as well.

I heard Phil laugh, "I would not worry too much about it. The truck belongs to the house I am currently staying in, a friend of mine needed a house sitter and I needed a place to stay for a few months, so a great plan was born."

I had not realized people let others borrow their houses, and I pointed this out to Phil. I would most certainly not like someone living in my house. Turns out Phil's current home was just a vacation house in the woods, he was going to be staying there until mid January or so, when he would head back to his real life. He did not go into details of what constituted his real life.

We stopped at one of my favorite beaches, there was a small area next to the water, this is what some might call the beach part, of course it was covered with the stones and seashells. The area was almost completely surrounded by cliffs rising out of both the land and water, when I was younger I used to imagine they were great spirits coming out to play with me. The forest tried to reach as close to the water as possible, it did not succeed everywhere, but there was a nice green wall less than a hundred yards away from the shoreline.

"Here we go," Phil said, "a picnic for the princess." He grabbed the baskets that had been next to my feet after he had helped me get out.

I noticed he had gone back to calling me princess now that my mother was not around. "That reminds me, how did you con my mother?"

"Oh that was easy, I offered to give her my social so she could do a full background check on me." He was spreading out the blanket, I should have helped him but he seemed to have a plan. Instead I sat on one of the bleached out logs, I watched the precise movements of his long fingers.

"No seriously, what did you do?" I really wanted to know so that I might use it in the future. He was adjusting the blanket trying to get it perfect, unfortunately some of the rocks were closer to being boulder size and kept making his blanket poof up in places. I could not help but laugh a little when he let out a frustrated breath. He finally, lifted the blanket and threw some of the rocks away.

It took him a while to be finally satisfied with the positioning of the blanket. "Yeah seriously, don't you think I would be doing a background check on the guy that took my daughter out? I told you, I thought like a parent." He reached into one of the baskets and pulled out another blanket, this one seemed thicker than the other one.

I hopped off my log to help him, or else we were going to be here all night long before he got the second blanket down. "Here let me help you."

I could see in his face that he was somewhat reluctant to let me help, "OCD much?" I asked him.

The second blanket turned out to be a thick quilt, I flopped onto it before he could start fixing the corners that were slightly askew. It was a lot more comfortable than I had anticipated. "You promised food, so feed me, now would be nice." Yeah I had the table manners of a wolf but I was hungry, and technically I was a wolf.

I could not help but be impressed with the amount of food he had actually brought, but then I should not have been surprised. I remembered the amount of food he had ordered the day I had first seen him in the diner.

"What is this stuff," I asked after I had opened a tupperware box, I did not recognize what was in it. Looked like tomatoes, and some leaves.

"Caprese Salad," he told me, pulling out more tupperware boxes.

"How do I eat it?" I asked him sniffing it, was that basil I smelled?

"Usually on bread. Here let me get you some and show you." He said taking the food away from me. He might have lost a hand for taking food away from me. Fortunately he quickly spooned the mixture onto a thick piece of bread before handing it back to me. What? I had skipped lunch, it was late afternoon, and the wolf metabolism was not helping.

This was pretty much the way our dinner conversation went, I poked at a strange food and he would show me how to eat it. I liked most of it, some of it I would not touch. I would tell him it smelled funny, he would laugh at me and call me a picky eater. I had to bite my tongue so that I would not tell him some of the meals I had consumed recently. I can't fully describe to you how disgusting bunny tails actually taste.

After we had both gorged ourselves, I leaned back a little while using my arms to brace myself - my stomach almost uncomfortably full. Phil was picking up and putting away the remains of the meal, and I was watching the gulls circle above me.

"Oh I almost forgot, I got you a present."

I was pleasantly surprised, and greedy, it had been a while since anyone gave me a present.

"Sorry I did not wrap it." He said handing me a small brown paper bag, inside was what almost looked like one of those cans that you squirted the silly string out of. This was not that colorful, it felt a lot heavier and looked more like the military version.

"Uh... thanks." I said trying to be polite, I tried to pull on the tab at the top.

He put his hand on mine to stop me, I looked up to see him laughing. "It is mace, not the grocery store brand either, this stuff will melt the face off of anyone you spray it on."

"Wow how nice," I continued, even more confused now. Why would he give me mace? I would have preferred the silly string, that would have been more useful.

"I figured if you are just going to jump on a bike with a stranger you needed some protection. Not all guys are as nice as I am. Just be careful not to use it on a police officer, they tend to get really pissed off if you do that." The twinkle in his brown eyes gave the impression that he had personal experience with doing that.

The more I talked to this man, the more I realized how much older than me he was. He might look like he was in his late twenties but I kept getting the impression he was older than that. He knew his place in the world; he was more comfortable in his skin than anyone I had ever met. There was a certain amount of peace to be had being around a man that was this comfortable with himself, but it made me wonder what he was doing with me.

"By the way, do you always do stuff just because someone dares you to?" he asked me in a casual tone.

"When you are surrounded by boys that expect you to be the sissy girl you kind of have to prove yourself everyday." I explained to him.

"Why are you so determined to prove yourself to them? Is their approval that important?" He seemed genuinely curious.

"I don't know, pride I guess." I answered him after thinking about it. Pride was the only think I had left, and I had so little left of even that these days.

He laughed, "you remind me of one of my cousins, she says she can do anything a man can, except she can do it in two inch heels."

"Wow, I would want to meet her, she sounds kind of cool." My type of woman, maybe I can pick her brain about secrets of how she did it.

"Not really, she is a total bloodsucker." He looked away, distracted by an especially loud wave crashing against the rocks.

I could feel the blood drain from my face, how did he know about vampires, did he know about what I was as well? For a minute I could not speak as different thoughts ran through my head.

Phil finally noticed that I was not longer participating in the conversation. He kicked one of my shoes with his big boots. "What is wrong?"

"Uhhh she is a what?" I could barely get the question out, my voice sounded a little high.

"A bloodsucker, you know a politician? Are you okay." He was looking at me more closely now.

"Yeah, I am fine." The relief I felt was overwhelming, I did not want this man to be part of the creepy supernatural world, I could not handle any more strange in my life. I wanted normal. I laughed, it sounded a little off, but he seemed not to have noticed.

Phil got up to go throw rocks into the water. I had noticed that he was incapable of sitting still, even when he was just sitting there he gave the impression of being in motion.

"Can't you sit still?" I laughed at him, this time it came out a little better. I truly enjoyed teasing this man.

He came back to sit down next to me, but I could see him still fidgeting with something in his hand.

"All right I will be still," he did not move a muscle, but I could still feel the waves of energy coming off of him. My grandmother would have said he had a very powerful spirit. She had been a very wise woman, I wondered what she would have said about Phil, heck I wondered what my father would have said about Phil. I lay down on the blanket, I could feel myself getting really sleepy. The fact that my hunger was fully sated did not help me stay awake.

I woke up with a start, was that a yelp I had heard?

It took me a minute to get my bearings, I was on the quilt. Great you fell asleep on Phil, some date you are. Oh yeah this is not a date, or he was not treating me as such. His attitude seemed very platonic, not once did I catch him staring at my breasts. I could not decide if I liked being treated like a person or if I wanted him to notice I was a woman.

"Sorry did I wake you," Phil's rumbly voice interrupted my inner dilemma.

"What?" I said still groggy. I really needed to get back to a regular sleep schedule, this falling asleep at all times of day was not going to to me any good socially or other ways.

"You are not very coherent when you first wake up?" I heard his deep laugh, it was kind of nice even if he was laughing at me.

"No, no I am awake." I sat up, and felt something crunch under my hand. I looked down and saw the outline of my body in seashells. Someone had placed them all around me while I was asleep.

"There was something moving around in the woods, it was getting a little too close for comfort, so I threw a rock at the correct bush. I think I got it, thought from the sound it made it might have been bigger that I thought." Phil seemed a little confused, he was holding a pretty large rock now.

I started to have a really bad feeling, like was one of the stupid pack members rustling around in the bushes. That would explain the yelp I had heard. I had to laugh, wondering which one of the pack he had hit. I had noticed Phil liked to throw things, he was ready to defend me if necessary, it was kind of sweet.

I picked up one of the seashells that had surrounded me trying to distract him from the potential wolf hiding in the bushes, and gave Phil a dirty look. "Did you have fun?"

"It was boring watching you sleep, except for the snoring bit that was kind of funny." He smiled at me, and out popped the dimples. I was wondering if you ever got used to the effect, or if he would always be able to make me forgive him with a flash of those dimples.

I thought about getting up and punching him but that would take too much effort, plus it might make the dimples go away. I lay back down on the quilt, the sky had darkened while I had been sleeping, I saw some stars peeking out where there was a break in the clouds.

"Tell me again why I put up with you?" I rubbed my face as casually as I could, wanting to make sure I had not drooled again. Much to my relief my face seemed dry, well one thing went right for me today.

"Because the alternative is having to live without me, and what is the point of living then?" He had come back to sit down on a log close to the blanket that I had used earlier. His tone was very serious, so serious I could barely hold back my laugh.

"Yeah, how could I go on?" I was laying on the sarcasm as thickly as I possibly could. I even rolled my eyes, but he was not cooperating since he had looked away from me. He was concentrating on the bushes again, I noticed he still had a rock in his hand ready to defend me. "Lions, and tigers, and bears oh my." I tried to joke about it, hoping to get his attention back to me, and away from a large werewolf on the other side of the bush. I really was going to rip someone a new one, how dare they endanger the tribe secrets? And for what stupid purpose would it be?

"Hmmm, I'm sorry, I was slightly distracted." Phil looked down at me now, there was something strange about his eyes, for a moment they were almost reflective like a cat's eye. Must have been a trick of the light, or what was left of it. I noticed how dark it actually had gotten.

"What time is it?" I asked, my mother must be getting worried by now.

"Getting late, don't worry I called your mother to tell her you fell asleep on me. Unfortunately I could only get a hold of your brother. Seth, is it? He said he would pass the message along to your mother." That was strange it was almost like he had heard my thoughts and answered them.

"You called my mother, how?" The wind shifted, I could smell them now. Paul and Quil had been here recently, I was wondering if they had done this on their own or if Sam was behind the stupidity. I really hoped it had been Paul that Phil had hit with that rock, I almost liked Quil - he was a good kid.

"These new fangled things called cell phones." I watched as he pulled one of of his back pocket and wave it at me. "Come on sleeping beauty it is time to get home."

I sat up again, more awake now, I looked down at my outline, he had not only included seashells but small rocks and feathers. I ran my finger down the line that had outlined my arm.

"All the elements right there," Phil said quietly.

"What?" I asked him confused.

"All the elements are represented, well the old school ones at least. Earth, wind, and water. You just need fire and you should be set, I can begin the incantation." He wagged his eyebrows at me.

It might have just been my imagination but when I cleaned off the blanked to put it away some of the rocks I touched had been hotter than they should have been.

"So, I was going to ask you something, but then you fell asleep on me," Phil said when we were back in the truck on our way to my house, or so I assumed. He did not need to much help finding his way back, but then there was only one road away from the beach.

"Go ahead," I was fully awake now, that nap had really helped. Too bad it was getting close to eleven at night, now what was I going to do? Maybe I could start working on a necklace, who said I would have to wait until the store closed down for the winter.

"So I am going to be here for a few months, and I was planning on doing some hiking and such but I need someone to do all that with. And since you are the only person I know..." he left it off as that.

"No I am not a tour guide." Was this the reason for all his elaborate plans to suck up to my mom, and to me?

"Oh come on, what else are you going to do? You don't have a job, and you don't seem to go to school. Come play with me, just for a few months and then I will be out of your hair," his voice was cajoling but I refused to look at him. If the dimples were out it would be impossible to resist.

"For your information, you are wrong, I have a job." I told him proudly.

"What is it?" he asked, I wished I could tell him the responsibilities I had as a wolf but sadly that was not something I could discuss. So I told him about my normal job.

"I am going to have to start helping my mother out again around the store." He could bite me. I did have a job, protecting the tribe from bloodsuckers, if he only knew what I had done in the past six months.

"What are you going to do in your spare time?" he asked reasonably, his eyes on the road.

He had a point, my spare time these days had been spent trying to salvage my castle in the sky, but I had to admit to myself there was no going back to that. What was the worst that could happen? I actually had some fun with this man, that would be a change from recent times, a very nice change.

The lights were on when I got home, I hoped my mother had not waited up for me.

"Ok sure," I said reluctantly as I got out of the car.

"Great, I will pick you up on Thursday at seven in the morning, be ready for a bit of hiking." He spoke quickly, like he was afraid I would change my mind. He muttered a quick goodbye before he reached over and closed the passenger side of the door. I did notice he waited until I had opened the front door before he started the truck again and took off.

I was almost inside when I heard some noise behind me, I looked over my shoulder to see Sam walk around the house. I deliberated for a moment, then I slowly closed the front door again. Sam and I needed to have a quick discussion, well it was going to be closer to a lecture. He was going to have to learn to mind his own business, and stop sending his minions to spy on me.

_"Impressive, I have not used a spell that primitive in... I can't even count the years," the woman told the man sitting beside her with a laugh, "I am surprised you still remembered how to do that."_

_ "It might be crude but if you put enough power behind it.." he replied with a sideways glance. He shifted a little on the wet rock they were both sitting on, his eyes went back to searching the area around them. It would be annoying if one of the wolves were to notice their presence._

_ "What was that exactly? I could not be sure what you actually tried to accomplish..." she started to tease him, but curiosity still laced her tone._

_ "All that matters is that I am pretty certain it worked," he was giving nothing away._

* * *

**A/N:** There you go girls, a little more Phil time for you.

GothChiq80: Glad you like the Sam and Leah showdown in the last chapter, I considered letting her punch him but I personally don't care for violence. I know what you mean about having two kids sharing their stories though at this point we are still at the oral phase of storytelling. Though my daughter has finally moved into the elaborate pictures and a few attempts at spelling; you would think a girl who can read 100 page books in a couple of hours would know how to spell - but I guess that will come later. Glad you liked the plot, I am not going to change it up much just the presentation of it - I think at times the information can be overwhelming so I am working on trying to give it to you in smaller portions.

ABarbieStory: Was that enough Phil time for you? Don't worry there will be plenty more :D. Who can possibly resist the dimples? I sure as heck can't. Of course Jake would be jealous of his bike, I think comparing sizes is a thing boys never outgrow.

Toshii519: Glad you liked the wolf gossip channel, though seriously I don't see how it would not happen that way. Especially since they all share thoughts. Plus I imagine Sam's panties would have been in a huge twist after his last showdown with Leah. I would think Emily's would not really worry about Leah and Sam - she pretty much knows that Sam is hers, no matter what happens.

What I can see her doing is pushing Sam towards "checking up" on Leah, just to make sure Leah is all right. Emily is older than Leah and is engaged to essentially the tribe of the chief so it would be her duty to push herself into other people's business. Don't tell Leah that I said this but I think Sam is genuinely worried about Leah - he does still feel obligated towards her as the alpha of the pack. Emily on the other hand comes off as a busybody constantly having to have all the pack at her house - can you say attention whore?

Twilighter: Sending my little Jailbait on a date with his girl might be fun, I promise to work on it tonight. I might have to go back and re-read all the chapters so I can get back into teenage boy brain who can't get none. At least not yet...wink, wink. Unlike SM I have no problem with premarital sex.


	7. Take a Hike

6 - A walk through the woods

Getting rid of Sam was much easier, last time he might have been slightly justified in his need to check up on me - I had hopped on a bike with a perfect stranger - this time though my mother had approved. Not only was his checking up on me completely unnecessary but his two stooges had almost managed to be seen.

As I quietly stepped inside the house a small lamp and the TV illuminated my mother's sleeping face, this late in the night the only things on TV were old eighties shows or infomercials - apparently there were knives out there that could cut through a tire. Why would anyone want a knife to do that? Though there was Sam's truck, it had tires. I shook my head at my evil thoughts and turned back to take care of mother. She must have been really tired because she allowed me to move her to bed without even waking up. Circling the house to make sure that everything was locked up and turned off I looked in on Seth's sleeping form.

Seth looks so angelic asleep, almost like the little boy he truly was inside of that abnormally mature body. This past spring Sam had tried to keep him out of the line of fire by giving him "cell phone" duty but Seth still managed to get in trouble. I might hate Bella's guts but there was one thing she did right, when Seth was having to fight that newborn vampire all by himself Bella tried to distract the leech in order to help Seth. I cannot imagine what would have happened to him if that bloodsucker got his hands on my little brother. _Probably something along the lines of what happened to Jake, all his bones broken on one side of his body._

I looked down at my brother, he had fallen asleep on top of textbooks and unfinished homework. As I watched he growled under his breath and started moving like he was running on all fours. I smiled down at him and picked up his books and papers, stacking them neatly on top of his desk. Pulling off his headphones I turned off the cd player, we were going to have to talk about his lack of taste in music. Gangster rap was not all that appropriate for a kid his age, I considered which wolf's ass I was going to have to kick for giving him this crap. Paul, that asshole was the most likely to blame.

My small family taken care of I too headed to bed, as I pulled off my borrowed clothes, including the sweatshirt that Phil had loaned me I noticed something out of place. A small feather had gotten tangled up in my sheared hair, maybe I had been looking at my escape plan all wrong. I could shift into a wolf, if I thought about it hard enough I might be able to shift into a bird and fly away from here. Smiling at my own lame joke, I place the feather on my nightstand before getting into bed. Despite my nap earlier I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

* * *

Mother took my offer to work for her seriously, the sky was still dark outside when she came into my room to wake me. Being awakened that early in the morning was slightly disorienting considering this was usually the time I went to sleep. As mother made us breakfast we discussed what she wanted me to do at the shop. Much to my amazement she did not ask any questions about Phil.

"You can do the odds and ends around the place, you know there is always something to do." She was cracking some eggs over the hot frying pan as she gave me her instructions. This was not the first time I had worked in the small boat rental place, I had been helping there in some capacity since the age of five - though back then I think it involved a box of crayons and making the walls "pretty".

"That sounds fine mom, and if I ever run out of things to do I can always work on making the stuff with my beads." It might not be a glamorous job but it will help both my mother and me.

"You never know Leah, someone might call with a job offer," I could hear the doubt in mother's voice but I did not call her out on the bullshit. I would take what was given to me, beggars could not be choosers.

"Now I know you like to make the more elaborate pieces, but I need you to do some simple ones too, those sell faster," she instructed me as she put the toast on my plate.

"I know mom, stupid friendship bracelet production coming up." I tried not to roll my eyes, it was really freaking boring to do those types of bracelets. There was absolutely no creativity involved, just stringing beads of various colors together in a simple pattern. I could do friendship bracelets in my sleep, and most of the time it was such monotonous work that I was doing it half asleep.

Even though she knew I was right my mother still admonished me. "You know the rules, the customer is always right."

"That does not mean they have good taste in jewelry," I added under my breath.

It was less than a five minute drive to the store, the time it took to get in and out of the car I could have walked. I moved to unload mother's things while she unlocked the back door.

It was best that I not interact with the customers until I got some decent clothes again. The dress code for the store was not strict, the problem was that all my regular looking clothes were now too small for me - and cutoff jeans and old T-shirts were a little too casual. My mother wore her usual jeans and thick plaid button up shirt, she looked a little chilly in the morning air. I guess it was getting colder since it was starting to be late September, not that it ever really got all that cold around here - the Pacific Ocean made sure that this place stayed fairly temperate, not too cold in the winter and not too hot in the summer.

The sky was starting to brighten when we unlocked the front door and flipped the sign to indicate we were officially open, my mom had a few customers that had rented boats for the day so those would have to be ready before six; Jon had already made sure they were clean the night before so all I had to do was go over them once more.

I stood on the deck of one of the larger boats we owned, there was just something about that rocking of the boat I found comforting. The clouds, they were getting pretty thick in the west. I hope the fishermen had remembered their rain jackets, but if you plan on spending any amount of time outdoors in this area you should expect to get rained on. It was amazing how many people were upset over the fact that their fishing expedition got rained on - did they not know where they were coming? In the entire continental US this place got the most rain, that did not happen because we tended to have clear, sunny skies everyday.

"I found some tangled fishing line but that was about it." I explained to my mom when I went back in the store.

"I know this is going to get really messy and it will take you several days but would you spend some time cleaning out the back room. We have not done it for over a year, your father kept promising he would do it this summer, but well..." my mom did not finish, the look on my face prevented her from going further in her explanation. Instead she gave a small wave of her hand almost like she was sweeping my father's death out of sight. I tried to hide my cringe, but it was probably very obvious.

In accordance with the plan, I spent most of the day clearing out the storage room. I gathered up old dried up cans of paint, empty boxes, and all sorts of trash. I had to borrow a neighbor's truck to haul it all to the dump. It took me several trips to haul away all the junk, so it was late afternoon by the time I finished. I tried not to think too much about anything, I concentrated on the task of deciding what to keep and what to toss - the answer was usually to get rid of it. It was cowardly to push all my worries away but yesterday had been a good day and I wanted to hold onto the feeling as long as possible.

I found my mother examining my work when I walked back to the store having returned the borrowed truck to the owner.

"I promised Joe one of your casseroles for letting me borrow the truck." I explained to my mother as I walked to stand beside her in the back room.

"I have not seen this place this level of clean in since your grandmother ran it, she always made the rest of us look like idle slugs." She told me, I guess she was not surprised by my promising to take some food over. Casseroles were my mother's favorite currency, she got a lot of favors for them.

Since there was nothing urgent for me to do around the place my mom gave me some money and suggested I go get some clothes. She was very impressed with all that I had done, and the speed with which I had accomplished it. Wolf strength really helped - I could lift huge boxes like they were nothing more than a box of kleenex. Her change in attitude towards me was a nice, but I guess my more friendly mood might have helped. I had been too busy to be bitter today, but the day was not over yet so there was plenty more time to let my inner bitch out.

"Leah you really need to get some more clothes, at least a couple of pairs of jeans. You also have to go through your closet and find everything that does not fit. I will take it over to the Rec center, maybe someone could use your old clothes." It would not take me long to go through my closet and pick out what did not fit; it was not like I didn't have any clothes. I was a teenage girl so of course I had clothes, the reason it would be so easy to sort through my clothes was that nothing fit anymore.

I was back in Forks for the fourth day in a row, this time it should be a little less frustrating since I was looking for clothes and not a job. I had gone to the Newton's store, it would have been cheaper for me to go to one of the department stores in Port Arthur but it would have taken too long. This late in the afternoon I might not make it before the stores closed. It would be easy enough to get jeans here and I would save up my money for a real shopping trip to the mall in Port Arthur.

My mother kindly let me borrow the car again, I decided to go shopping alone for several reasons. The main one was the fear that even if I were to invite one of my friends they might say no. I was not certain who was still willing to put up with me, and at this point even the smallest rejection might put me over the edge. At first my friends had made allowances for the fact that Sam broke up with me but soon I had successfully alienated most of my friends - there is only so much bitterness they could take before they gave up on me. I could not blame them really, since I had given up on me, but at the same time it kind of hurt. If there was an olympic event in losing friends I would definitely have qualified for the top ten.

So I was standing in front of the mirror, in men's jeans, because nothing was long enough in the girls section without it being far too wide. I might have possibly been feeling a little sorry for myself - ok so I was having a pity party all by myself. How did that old song go: _It's my party I can cry if I want to_. Gee what was with me and quoting lyrics of songs, if I started to repeat words from country music I would just give it up and slit my wrists.

"I think those jeans make your ass look big," I heard his voice behind me. I looked up in the mirror trying to meet Phil's gaze but he was too busy staring at my ass, and from the look on his face he was appreciating the view.

"What, are you stalking me now?" I accused him, he always seemed to be popping up where I was.

"Yeah you figured me out," he told me in a mock serious tone, "I already found and killed my first target and now I have moved onto my second choice prey."

"What are you doing here?" my suspicion still not completely abated. In the past week he had popped up without being invited in three different places.

"Hmmm well hanging out in the men's section of a store? Yeah it looks very suspicious." His face took on a serious look as he scanned the area in an exaggerated attempt to make sure we were alone. He leaned closer to whisper, "if you must know I am doing secret ninja stuff."

I looked down in his hands, he had a pack of underwear, and some wool socks. I had no choice but to laugh, "yeah, I guess ninjas need clean underwear."

"That is the most important part of the outfit, comfort is the number one priority," the authoritarian tone was undermined by the fact that his lips were curling up into a smile.

"According to most commercials I have seen, comfort is very important." I had worn enough sexy girl underwear to value comfort.

"By the way you jerk, my ass is not big," finally reacting to his greeting. My butt was really nice looking even if I was the only one who said so, and my legs looked super long. I could not stop my self-satisfied smile while looking at myself in the mirror, long legs seemed to go along with the wolf genes.

"Your ass is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me," he sounded absolutely serious, I had learned to recognize the slight twitch of the corners of his mouth when he was teasing me. He must think teasing "Princess" was a great deal of fun, and for some unfathomable reason I was going to let him do it.

"I think you are misquoting Mr Darcy. I don't remember him using the word ass." I recognized the quote, but I did not see Phil as a Jane Austen fan. But then Phil was starting to get a little annoying, every time I had him pegged in a nice little stereotype he would change on me.

"Yeah but you know he wanted to, in the back of his mind that is what he really meant. That is pretty much what most guys think about," his eyes dared me to disagree with him.

"I do not really see you enjoying _Pride and Prejudice_," I told him honestly, it was best to change topics since I agreed with him over what men thought about. Having been part of the pack mind I knew exactly how many times guys actually though about sex, in the past I had thought those girl magazines were exaggerating but now I had learned that it was actually an understatement. That was just the sex portion now if you threw in Sam and Jared thinking about their imprints it was an all out gagfest on my part. I was so glad Jake had imprinted on Nessie, his feelings for Bella had been so strong that I was starting to get the hots for her.

"It is an ok book, there are some better authors of the time. In terms of that genre I think I enjoyed Elizabeth Gaskell's _North and South _more," he explained while waving his underwear around.

"I don't think I have heard about that one. How is it that you can quote Jane Austen if you don't like her that much?" All right, so not to be prejudiced or anything but construction worker was definitely off the list of possible occupations for Phil. Could he be some sort of teacher? Is that why he could quote classic literature? But for some reason I did not see him as a teacher, quite frankly there was no way in hell he could get a body like that while spending all his time behind a desk or grading papers - even if he did hit the gym all the time. His long muscular legs were incased in another pair of jeans today, I did not think that they were meant to be tight but his large thighs stretched the fabric to the point that I could see the outline of several large muscles. I averted my eyes before the drool started to pool in my mouth, there was something absolutely sexy about the way he just causally leaned against the wall.

He gave a deep sigh of suffering, "my best friend absolutely adores Pride and Prejudice, and if you ever meet her make sure you never say anything bad about Colin Firth. He is the one and only Mr. Darcy, and Phila is willing to fight anyone who says otherwise."

"Phila?" That sounded like a strange name. Phil and Phila, it was kind of funny.

"Yeah, her name is Ophelia, but no one ever calls her that. Not unless you want a broken nose or a bruised shin." He smiled a little, like he was remembering a specific incident.

"She sounds kind of fun to be around," I said dubiously.

"We all have our quirks, Phila is willing to expend the extra effort to remind you of hers." He shrugged, it was the way things were - he was not going to worry about it.

One of the kids who worked in the store came over to see if everything was all right. It was then that I realized I was still wearing the jeans._You had better not be getting these jeans just so you could see him staring at your ass again_. Ok so maybe that was one of the reasons I had decided to get the jeans. In some ways I was still a girl, I liked to be admired for my assets as well as my cheerful personality.

Phil move towards the front of the store to pay for his socks and I went to change back into my shorts. I could not help but smile, my pity party forgotten for the moment.

* * *

The next morning I woke up before anyone else, it was too early to begin the day but with patrols and living homeless for a while my sleep schedule was completely screwed up.

While I was being honest with myself I could not blame my inability to go back to sleep solely on my patrol duties - part of it was the fact that I was going to get to see Phil. I was actually looking forward to the day, that had not happened in a long time. I could not pinpoint exactly why this was the case, Phil was somewhat annoying at times. Under normal circumstances I would have ripped his head off for teasing me, but for some reason I liked it. Not that I would ever admit that to him, being tortured by a gang of newborn vampires would have been preferable to confessing my enjoyment of being called Princess.

Part of his appeal was that he kept changing on me, my initial impression of him being a manual laborer had quickly been dismissed. His lean and muscular body might fit, as well as the steel toed boots but then his words did fit. Things just did not add up, the motorcycle and his general air of mischief gave me the impression he was a bad boy. Especially the speed with which he rode the bike, but at the same time he made sure that we both wore helmets and he obviously had a great deal of experience. As the saying went this was not his first rodeo, he might have taken those turns at high speeds but he never once lost control.

I had nothing against bad boys, in fact at this point I was willing to give a bad boy a chance seeing how well it had worked out with the good guy. I was a girl therefore deep down I was a tiny bit attracted to a hint of danger. Motorcycles aside he had gone out of his way to not only return my jacket but to make sure I stayed warm the other night. The other glaringly obvious discrepancy was that he had somehow appeased my mother. Sue Clearwater was born on a Tuesday but it was not last Tuesday, she was not easily fooled - it made me curious, what had he told her? Had he really given her his social to make running a background check on him easier?

So he could not be bad and get past my mother but he did not give me the impression of being a white picket fences, the golden retriever, and the 2.2 kids type of guy. _That is not a bad thing Leah, a little bit of bad makes it so much sweeter _- the little voice in the back of my head purred. I tried to ignore that pesky voice, no matter how sexy he might be I was willing to admit to myself that my life was currently way to messed up to add a new boyfriend into the mix.

Regardless of all that, we had a temporary deal and he would be gone in January - it was not like he was my soulmate or anything. I would have imprinted on him if we were meant to be together forever. For now I would enjoy the company of a relatively 'normal' guy and pretend that I was just as human as he was. So that was the plan, and I was sticking to it.

Since there was no way I was going back to sleep I attempted to make some scrambled eggs, it did not look that hard when I watched my mother do it the other day. I was on my third try when my mother came rushing in the kitchen, she must have smelled the smoke or something.

"Leah what are you doing?" she asked, like it was not perfectly obvious. She quickly pushed me aside as she tried to save the last of the eggs. I watched in wonder as she turned what was probably going to be third failed attempt turned into scrambled eggs. She scraped the pan with a spatula, turned knobs to reduce the heat and pulled out some oil. Darn it I knew I had forgotten something, oil, that would have helped.

"Leah you know you are not supposed to cooking," my mother said with a laugh. It was kind of a family joke, I could not cook to save my life. If I ever had to live on my own I would probably starve, or have to eat out a most of my meals.

"We are going to have to cross our fingers and hope she imprints on a nice house-husband." Seth said as he came into the kitchen, he was still in an old pair of underwear.

"Eeew clothes would be nice Seth?" I told him, lightly punching him on the arm.

"If you two are going to fight I would appreciate it if you would take it outside, where there is not a hot stove or all sorts of breakable things." My mother calmly told us, she was used to how much more physical we had become over the past few months.

"Sorry mom," we mumbled almost in unison. I stuck my tongue out at Seth, making sure my mom was not watching first.

"Grow up Leah," Seth said but I noticed that he had crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue right back at me.

Seth and I kept up the teasing conversation through breakfast; there were not enough eggs left so Seth and I had supplemented our meal with cereal. As I anticipated Phil showing up it occurred to me that my mother had not asked about my dinner with him the other night, when I requested the day off to go hiking with him she had amazed me by agreeing to the holiday with very little protest. I did promise to help clean the boats this weekend as an alternative to working today, but I was still suspicious. What spell had Phil weaved that made my mother so cooperative?

I heard the truck pull up in front of the house a few minutes past seven, I could add punctuality to the short list of things I knew about Phil. The truck was the same one he had used the other day, I quickly ran outside. Call me paranoid but I did not want him interacting with my mother too long, he had the tendency to say some strange things; I did not want to test the strength of whatever spell he had cast on her the other day.

"Bye mom," I said heading out the door to intercept Phil. He looked like he was getting out of the truck, I tried to hurry at a human pace.

"Morning Princess," he told me with a quirk to his lips. Did this guy ever loose the smile?

My attempts to avoid my mother were to no avail, Phil chose to ignore my less than subtle hints. He not only went in to say hello to my mother but he sat down and talked to her for a few minutes about our plans.

Of course to my mortification he noticed the burnt smell, my mother was happy to explain to him why breakfast had been burned.

Phil gave me a perplexed look, "how can you mess up scrambled eggs?"

"Hey Phil can you cook?" Seth asked coming in, thank goodness he had actually put some clothes on.

"Of course, it was either learn to cook or starve." He said it casually, his tone implied that anyone could learn how to cook if they only put in a little effort.

Seth started to hum the wedding march under his breath, fortunately I was the only one who heard him. My soon to be maimed and dismembered brother chose to ignore the glare I sent in his direction. Next time I would not move his homework off the bed, let us just see how well he slept with an Algebra book for a pillow.

I hinted yet again it was time to leave. This time Phil actually listened to me, standing up from the couch; Phil asked permission to leave the truck in my mother's yard, she said yes of course.

The air was colder outside, Phil reminded me yet again about my coat, I turned away from him to roll my eyes. I went back in the house and got both my coat and his sweatshirt.

While I had been busy in the house he had put on the biggest backpack I had ever seen in my life.

"How long are you planning on being out?" I wondered maybe I should have taken a backpack. "What do you have in there? the kitchen sink?"

"Laugh it up now, but you are going to get hungry sooner than later. I will be one with the food." He scolded me for a moment, but then back came the half smile. He had not smiled much the first time I had seen him in the diner but since giving me a ride when Sam was harassing me his smile was always there under the surface. It would be nice if he shared some of his secret, but in a way he did - that smile of his was somewhat contagious even when he was teasing me.

We headed east through the reservation, he did not bother sharing our final destination with me. I was not worried, I could find my way back home no problem.

"You know you look like a total tourist when you keep pulling out your map like that," I teased him as he pulled out his map once again to look at it with a great deal of concentration.

"Guess what Princess...I am a tourist," his laughter undermined my attempts to harass him.

I looked around us as he checked his map, it had been a while since I had slowed down long enough to look at where I was - usually it was running patrols while things rushed past me. It was easy to forget the beauty of the place surrounding you, my problems were small compared to the vastness of mother nature. She was quickly changing her clothes, preparing the land for winter.

As we walked through the woods Phil questioned me about my tribe, he spent most of the morning asking about our stories.

He kept asking questions and seemed surprised at the detail with which I could answer. What did he think I knew nothing of my people? Not that I would ever admit it to him but I was somewhat surprised at how much I enjoyed sharing the stories of my tribe.

I noticed he was very vague about the answers he was giving me, he shared things but there were few details. He was much better than I was at changing the topic when I started asking for details.

One happy point in the morning was when I finally managed to ruffle his feathers, we had gotten near a stream and I had bend down to get a drink. It was then that I received the lecture on all the pathogens that could be found in unprocessed water. I could not point out that I was a wolf and so was immune to most of those, I finally shut him up by taking the water bottle he offered and just walking away from him - but not before I took note of the fact that he could name several diseases that came from drinking untreated water.

We stopped for lunch around eleven, I finally figured out why he had such a big backpack. But between both of us eating like wolves we managed to put a dent in it. I had to admit, Phil seemed less of a city slicker than I had originally thought - despite his reliance on the map. He kept up a steady pace with his long legs, a few months ago I would have been hard pressed to keep up with him.

"So what exactly do you do for a living?" I asked outright, trying to figure him out.

"You will never guess and I don't think I will tell you today," he gave me a mischievous smile as we walked along. "Anyway, I am on vacation so I am trying not to think about work."

"What kind of a job lets you take off for months at a time?" I asked suspiciously, wondering why the hell he would not tell me.

"Maybe I am a trust fund kid, and live off the hard work of my parents." He made the suggestion with a smile and a happy twinkle in his eye before he picked up the pace.

There were a few advantages to being a wolf, seeing the confusion on Phil's face when he kept looking back to make sure I was keeping up with his quick pace was one of the few perks. I could see he was somewhat competitive and I felt him increase speed as he noticed I was keeping up. The other advantage was that walking through the woods was second nature to me so I did not have to concentrate that hard on not tripping over something and could spend my time doing other things - such as staring at Phil's ass. I really hated it when guys had no ass, Sam had been one of those people who had to wear a belt because there was nothing to stop his pants from falling down. Not Phil, his round compact rear end would make sure that his pants stayed up. Fortunately the backpack did not block my view, that would have been very disappointing. I might not have been interested in him as a boyfriend but that did not mean I could not appreciate the view.

After we stopped to eat Phil's questions became less frequent. That was a good thing, I had exhausted all my non-wolf tribe history. I was not about to tell him those legends, Bella had been told those stories and it had not taken her long to figure out what Jake was. So the wolf stories would not be brought out today, or any day for that matter.

I smelt it before we got to the carcass, I even tried casually to lead Phil so we would not have to cross its path. Phil was almost as stubborn as I was and he was not going to be moved from the small hiking trail he had chosen to follow.

"What the hell?" Phil said, his sunny smile disappearing. "That is so disgusting."

"It is no different than the bacon you eat in the morning." I pointed out to him. Though I kind of agreed with him, I liked my meat already cooked before seeing it.

"I know it is like bacon, that is not what bothers me. People just killing an animal and wasting it is what bothers me." Phil said with an aggravated tone.

"Oh I see," I could not say much more, it was then I had noticed the scent. I don't know how I had missed it before, Vampire. It had been one of the Cullens, Bella if I got the scent right. Holy crap, I had a human in the middle of the vampires' hunting grounds. How had we gotten this far, and how had I not noticed where we were. _You were too busy talking and starring at his ass. _Neither the scent or the deer were fresh so there was a chance they might not be out anymore, but I still had to make sure.

It was beyond frustrating, could I not be allowed one day without the reminder that I was not quite human anymore? Worse, I now would have to find a way to tell the Cullens they had a human in their territory without rousing that human's suspicious.

I had to warn the Cullens; well more like ask them if one of them was still hunting. I gave a big sigh before giving into the inevitable, and did what I really did not want to do.

"Hey do you still have that cell phone of yours?" I asked Phil, though it was more like demanding since I immediately put my hand out for it. Allowances had to be made considering I was doing this to keep him safe.

"Sure, do you need it for something?" I watched as he pulled it out of one of his pockets and handed it over to me.

The small silver rectangle had no buttons to push, so instead of doing something stupid and wrecking what looked like a very expensive phone I handed it back to him.

Phil cracked a smile as he watched the confusion on my face, "here just tell me the number."

He dialed while I told him, don't ask me why but somehow I knew the vampire's home phone number. Phil handed me the phone so that I could talk to them.

Esme answered the phone, that was a good thing because of all the vampires the mother hen was the most easily tolerated. "Hello?" She sounded confused, I guess there was some strange number on the caller ID.

"Hi Esme this is Leah Clearwater, I was calling to tell you something." This is where it would get tricky. I looked up to see that I had Phil's full attention. I guess he was not going to wander off politely so that I could have a private conversation. That would be too much to hope for.

"Hello, Leah, how may I help you? Do you want to speak to Jake? I think he is outside playing with Nessie right now." Identifying myself seemed to not have cleared up much of the confusion in her voice. I had never made any attempts to hide the fact that I hated their guts, she must be wondering why I sounded so polite. Too bad Phil would never appreciate the lengths I would go through to protect his cute ass.

"A friend and I are hiking in the woods around your house and we found a deer carcass. I was wondering if the hunters in the area were still around, we would not want to run into them. Phil is pretty upset at them for leaving the deer." You would think the vampires would clean up after themselves, it should not be that hard to burry the deer or something.

"Phil, is he a human?" I had to hand it to them, all the vampires were quick.

"Yes, he is." I was relieved that she understood my message.

"Well I don't think anyone is going out hunting right now, but Bella will after Nessie goes to sleep. I would suggest that you take your human out of the woods by then. We try, but accidents can happen, though with Bella you never know." Yeah Bella the super control girl, she did not act anything like the newborns we had encountered earlier this spring. I don't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it was a good thing, especially since Jake had set himself up as her guinea pig to test her control. I was still furious with her for hurting Seth, Bella might have super control but she also had a bad temper - not that I was one to talk.

"You know there are places you can donate the carcass, they process it for free and give it to food banks." Phil butted in, interrupting my conversation.

"Thank you, if you see any hunters pass by your house I would like you to warn them to take their kills away." I told Esme, trying to end the awkward conversation.

"Of course, Leah. Have a nice hike, it is a beautiful day outside." Esme was being polite as usual, she always had impeccable manners, despite the fact that I had been rude to her every time we met. It was her super politeness that tended to make me even more rude, Esme had that mom skill of making you feel guilty with little to no effort. It was very nice of her not to point out how stupid I had been to bring a human into their hunting territory.

"Have a nice day," I tried to return the goodbye politely. I nearly had to bite my tongue to keep me from growling at her but the alternative was worse. How could I possibly explain to Phil why I hated Esme. I turned off the phone, at least I hope that is what I did, and handed it back to Phil.

This collision of my supernatural life with my time with Phil suddenly soured my mood. My imagination was far too good at coming up with other scenarios, ones in which it was not a deer the vampires killed.

"I had not heard about donating the deer to charity. That is kind of cool." I tried my best to distract Phil and more importantly myself from the thoughts of what could happen in these woods.

"I had assumed you would know a great deal about it, is this not a big area for hunting?" Phil said casually, to my utter relief he shook his head once more at the deer before he walked on. He had not noticed that the deer had not been killed in the conventional method, it was fairly obvious that this deer had not been killed with a gun. The first clue was the fact that there was no obvious bullet her and the second more glaring clue was the ripped open throat. Vampires were seriously messy eaters, I did not want to imagine what the human drinkers did to their victim's bodies.

"There is some hunting done in the surrounding areas, why do you ask? do you hunt?" I finally answered his question after stepping past the deer.

"I don't really care for guns," Phil said picking up the pace again.

I noticed that he did not say that he did not hunt, just that he did not care for guns. It was the typical way he answered questions. "What is wrong with guns?"

"They kill people," he shrugged casually but by the sudden stiffness of his shoulders I knew there was more to it than he was telling me.

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people." I reminded him of the stupid slogan gun advocates like to repeat.

He looked back at me and opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but he didn't. Instead he slowed down and waited for me to catch up.

The next few hours were somewhat quiet, Phil would point out the occasional insect or one of the flowers that was still blooming this late in the season interspersed with a few remaining questions regarding my tribe. Phil must have noticed my darker mood because he stopped trying to keep up the conversation, concentrating on his map instead.

I kind of missed our earlier conversation, though I probably missed the illusion of normalcy more than anything else. With Phil I could pretend I was nothing more than a human girl out for a hike on a pleasant day. That bubble had burst, I am surprised it had lasted this long. It was a good thing he did not ask me too many more questions, at this point my concentration was so poor that I would have probably blurted out something about the wolves.

Currently I was distracted by the thoughts running through my head, my world colliding with Phil was not a consequence I had considered before this time - what could happen to Phil if I brought him into my chaotic supernatural life? The obvious answer was that I could get him killed, I had done enough wrong in the past few months but most of it involved pissing people off. This was a little more serious, I did not need this man's blood on my hands. If I did bring him into my world, even if I kept it secret from him, there was a risk that he could be harmed.

On the bright side at least I seemed to be getting better, I had reached a point in my misery where I could consider someone else. I wondered if his ignorance would be enough to protect him, or if it would cause more harm than good - not that I had the choice to tell him anything, both the tribal elders and Sam had forbidden me from saying anything about being a wolf. It was not a bad rule, it would protect all of us from becoming a test subject in some government lab.

The more selfish side of me feared that he would figure it out - the fact that I was a wolf. Would he be as accepting as Bella had been of Jake? I somehow doubted that, Bella had needed Jake as a crutch to survive long enough for her Edward to come back to her.

Was that what I wanted from Phil? to be my crutch until something better came along? That would be unfair to the man if I was starting a relationship but so long as I kept us casual, friends only, it should be all right. I had been in Jake's head long enough to know I would not use Phil the same way Bella had used Jake, therefore if Phil wanted to take this further than friendship I would not allow that to happen. Phil had been giving me mixed signals in that regard. He took me on what could be interpreted as a romantic picnic in a secluded spot but then he gave me mace instead of the usual flowers or candy gift. The next day he admired my ass but the today he had made not attempts at flirting, instead he asked me about neutral topics like my tribe.

Things were getting to be confusing and I did not need that right now - he would be my friend. _Your rebound friend with privileges?_ That little voice in the back of my head asked. Hell, at this point any type of friend would be nice. Sometime in the past few months I had alienated every single one of my friends, it would be amazing to have just one. I could try to go rekindle my old friendships but they might expect me to be that happy Leah again, Phil had not known me back then so he would not expect me to be all chipper and optimistic.

If things did not work out he would be going back to his real life in January so at most I would lose him a couple of months early - it was not like he was going to be a permanent fixture in my life. _Plus he has a really yummy looking ass_, the little perverted voice in the back of my mind pointed out. That voice had been making several comments regarding Phil, usually very lewd and suggestive comments.

Here was an opportunity to hang out with someone who knew nothing about me, or about the baggage that I carried around with me. Around Phil it was almost easy to pretend that my life was normal. This friendship could never be fully open, I would have to always be careful to make sure he never found out the truth about me. He would most certainly freak out if he ever figure out I could change into a bear sized wolf, my mouth twisted into a smile as I tried to picture Phil screaming like a little girl. My mind refused to go in that direction, instead it kept trying imagine what he looked like without those jeans. The underwear he had bought yesterday were boxer briefs, that would mean they would hug every curve of that tight ass.

I had been so consumed with my own thoughts that at first I did not notice the change in Phil's usual behavior.

"Do you know where you are going?" I watched him consult the map once again. He had been doing that more frequently as we headed into the afternoon. We were still in the woods, but we had left anything that could constitute a trail a couple of hours ago.

"Next you are going to tell me we should stop and ask for directions." he said with a smile, but I could detect the stubbornness in his voice. Typical male, I don't know why I thought he might be different. In him it was kind of cute, it might just have been because he was acting like regular human. Spending all my time around the supernatural made the quirks of normal people seem almost endearing.

"You must be fun on road trips." I told him, the sarcasm thick in my tone.

"Why?" This seemed to genuinely confused. "I am always fun to be around." His innocent tone did not fool me, it sounded a little too genuine.

"You are certainly happy, way too happy." _Like what drugs are you taking happy? and more importantly, are you willing to share?_

The smile had rarely left his face since he came to my house this morning, even when I had made snarky comments the smile remained. There must be something wrong with his brain, like the fact that he always called me Leah when my mother was around but as soon as she was out of earshot I was back to Princess. Maybe he was not as normal as I originally thought, the circumstances that would make others angry made him more jubilant - though I had got under his skin when I tried to drink from that stream.

"All right boy scout gimme the map and tell me where you want to go." I waited for him to hand me the map. Instead he opened it up again to look at it. I rolled my eyes, again. Why does he have to be so stubborn?

"Hey, don't you know that trying to tell a man where he should go is a very dangerous move." His happy smile appeared again, "by the way I was never a boy scout, my family is not really into that sort of stuff." He pointed out without looking up from the map.

"What is your family into?" I asked trying to get some details, maybe he would let something slip while he was distracted. I had noticed that he did not say much about himself or where he came from - he spent most of his time interrogating me, though he mentioned his family quite often.

"You don't want to know," his cryptic answer was delivered with another brilliant smile. He switched directions, and started walking through the shrubbery. I bit my tongue to prevent myself from making a snarky remark; now that I was aware of the fact he was lost I was pretty sure we had passed by this tree about half an hour ago. I considered laying down an ultimatum: either he lets me lead or I was going to leave him in the middle of the woods. Unfortunately I would be part of the search party that would have to come looking for him. I was also afraid to leave him in the woods with the bloodsuckers roaming.

"Aha, found it," he seemed pleased with himself. We had found a empty river bed, well actually the stream version. I was somewhat surprised to find it dry, not many streams were dry in this area. He jumped down onto the rocks, an extra spring in his steps as he headed down the slope.

"Nice cabin, don't you think so?" Phil said suddenly. I followed his gaze to see what he was looking at.

Phil and I had a completely different definition of what constituted a cabin. The house we approached looked like was made of wood like a cabin, but that was where the similarity ended.

The entire house was on an elevated wooden structure. The stream of rocks we had been following had been diverted to circle around the house, I could not see where it eventually ended up since it disappeared into the extensive landscaping. The shrubs and flowers were made to look as if they matched the surrounding woods but their placement was much too formal to have gotten there naturally. I could see the paths lined with white rocks outlining different plant beds, anyone would have to admit that the place was very beautiful.

I walked towards the gardens to get a closer look, someone had spent a great deal of money to to do this, and the fool was probably spending a great deal more trying to keep it that way. I smiled to myself, they would eventually give up, then nature would take this place back.

"Is that a zen garden?" I asked recognizing the strange placement of stones and the combed looking sand or maybe it was pebbles. It finally hit me, what this style reminded me of. The place looked like the houses I had seen in the Samurai movies my brother preferred to watch.

The deep eaves had small lanterns hanging on them. I could see that someone liked windows. The sides of the house that I could see were mostly made up of windows, maybe it was vampires who lived here - I had noticed that the Cullens liked glass a great deal.

"It is kind of cool looking, isn't it?" Phil interrupted my perusal of the house. There was a strange glint of humor in his dark brown eyes. "Hey do you want to sneak in and see what it looks like on the inside?"

"What? You do know my mother is good friends with the Police Chief of Forks." Speeding I could live with, breaking in and entering was where I drew the line.

Phil hopped up the small steps that led to the platform that stood in place of a back porch. There were a few utilitarian pieces of wooden furniture placed next to a small grill, nothing else. I guess whoever lived here like to be a minimalist.

The kitchen was visible beyond the wooden sliding doors, so maybe they were not minimalists. As far as I could tell they owned every gadget known to kitchens, various shinny appliances were neatly line up along the counter.

"Oh come on don't be a wuss, where is your sense of adventure?" Phil said heading closer to the sliding doors.

"I would rather be adventurous outside of a jail cell." I watched as Phil pulled on the door and started to slide it open.

"Stop it," I had started whispering at him. I was looking around waiting for the homeowner to jump out at us. I don't know if he would be brandishing a sword or a shotgun, my luck it was going to be some ninja wannabe.

"Hey they left it unlocked, they must want us to go in." I watched as Phil stepped into the house, he did not hesitate even for a second.

* * *

**A/N: **There you go girls, another chapter. I kind of cut this one short since it was getting to be too long. Plus I thought a tiny cliffhanger would be fun right about now.

It took me longer than I would have liked to fix this chapter but it did not help that I kept getting interrupted.

My husband wanted to know why I was looking at men in their underwear on the internet - I told him it was research. It was legit, I could not remember what boxer briefs were technically called. :D I have to admit some of those male underwear models are either very lucky or they stuff because...well you get the picture.

ABarbieStory: Shame on you, switching over to my story when you saw that it was updated. Kidding, kidding :D I am glad you like it. Hopefully you liked Phil and Leah's little hike. You wanted to know if the ending was Phil or not... you will have to wait a little bit to figure it out.

Connect2jtb: Glad you like the rewrite, I am actually putting off other projects to do it. But I like Phil and Leah, they come alive in my head and it is fun to see them duke it out. The later chapters should be even more fun.

Twilighter: Thanks for the pep talk, sometimes it gets depressing writing some of these stories and no one give me some love. Ok I lie, people give me love but I want more... yeah, yeah I am greedy like that. Still thinking about jailbait's date, but what is going to be more fun is that he is supposed to turn eighteen in a couple of chapters ... I already have his bday present all picked out. I really hate it when I have all the other chapters planned out and I get stuck on one.


	8. Sanctuary

7 - Sancutary

Going into some stranger's house definitely put Phil in the bad boy category, in fact he overshot the bad boy and went straight to criminal here. I looked around the elaborate garden, not seeing anyone. I went up to the platform, my long legs taking the stairs two at a time. He had left the sliding doors open so all I had to do is step inside and begin my own criminal career. My mind was too nervous to come up with a concrete plan to keep him from being arrested, but I had to do something. Maybe I could tackle him and drag him outside; taking him out would be easy enough, explaining how I had been able to do it would be the hard part. For a moment I smiled, it would be almost worth seeing the look on his face when I tackled him - and if I groped a few parts while doing it, well that would be purely 'accidental'.

"Phil, what the hell are you doing?" I hissed quietly, as I took the final step and broke the law.

He had not gone far into the house, having been distracted by a slow cooker sitting on one of the massive counters. He lifted the lid and peered inside the bubbling pot.

"Dinner looks great, I just have to add some rice and it should be done." Without searching he opened a drawer and pulled out a spoon to stir the pot. The scent of tomatoes, sausage as well as some foreign spices hit my nose - that food smelled really good. _Focus Leah, focus on the problem._ It had been a while since lunch and I was a wolf, any type of food would have been distracting.

"What?" I asked slightly confused, finally realizing what he had told me.

"I should probably turn off the alarm system too," he finished stirring and replaced the lid on the pot, putting his spoon down on the counter before he walked past a large table with chairs towards the front of the house. I now noticed a constant beeping I had not been paying attention to.

My mind was still perplexed at his change in behavior, my body at full alert waiting for someone jump out at us. The large open room past the kitchen constituted the dining room and living room. The two naturally blending together, the furniture in both was made up of a dark sleek wood with little to no embellishments - the cushions of the chairs and sofas were a cream color with dragons of various hues of red all over them continuing to add to the Japanese feel to the place. As we walked around the corner there was a set of stairs leading to the second floor and a sliding door to another room - I could not see inside since the doors were closed.

"This is your house, isn't it?" I asked hesitantly. My mind was trying to come down from the adrenaline rush.

"Technically not my house, but yes I currently reside here." He said with a mischievous smile.

If I had not been so worried I may have noticed that the place had his scent all over it. I walked over and punched him in the arm, since my heart was still pumping at a million beats a minute I used a little more force than should be normal for a girl my size - but that thought did not occur to me until after I hat hit him.

"Owww, what was that for?" he asked rubbing his arm. I should have felt sorry for hitting him that hard but instead I was worried that he would figure out that I was not all that normal. He did not seem that much bothered by the punch but I could not tell if he was trying to look tough or I had not really hurt him. He looked more amused than hurt by my punch, hmm maybe I had not hit him as hard as I thought.

"YOU are not funny! I was seriously worried." I yelled at him with no real heat in my voice. I growled too quietly for him to hear, but my heart was not really in it. He had this tendency to push my buttons, but my reaction to his teasing was what really threw me off. Normally I would fly into a temper when people tried to harass me but with Phil that was not my reaction, he was far to good at redirecting my anger. I was starting to suspect that he enjoyed trying to piss me off. I should have been ready to rip his head off for the stunt he pulled, but instead I was just mildly annoyed and still a little scared.

He gave me the full smile, and out popped the dimples - he even batted his long eyelashes at me. "It was very, very sweet of you to rush in here after me to try to save me."

"And the dimples won't help you get out of trouble." My words were a complete and utter lie, and I was pretty sure he knew it - those dimples of his should be illegal. Especially when paired with the puppy dog eyes, there was no way anyone could resist.

My mind was very aware that this was an exaggerated attempt to flirt was just a ploy to make me forgive him, his lips formed into a big pout as he continued to bat those long eyelashes at me. I knew that he was just teasing me, but my body did not seem to get that memo.

How long had it been since I had gotten any? We were not even talking sex here, just a little kissing - maybe a little tongue. _Though he looks like he would be fun to ride, he most certainly has the stamina for it._ The little voice in the back of my head was screaming: GO FOR IT.

My body of its own accord started leaning even closer - would he taste as good as he smelled? The combination of the scents he had picked up from trekking through the woods mixed with a slight undertone of sweat on top of his regular smell was tempting me to taste him. My strong reaction to his scent would have been perplexing had I really been thinking about it, but that was not really what I was focusing on at this time. It would not necessarily have to be on his lips, that spot where his neck met his shoulders would work for me. I could grab a hold of those broad shoulders and pull our bodies flush before licking my way up his neck.

"Then how about I feed you instead?" Phil's voice sounded even deeper than usual, making me break out in goosebumps. My mind finally caught up with my body, putting on the breaks. Thankfully Phil's playful question interrupted my fantasies before I did something stupid like act on them.

It took me a moment to pull my mind out of the gutter and remember I was supposed to be angry at him. I gave a small sigh before following him as he headed back to the kitchen, it looked like he had not noticed my mental side trip - that intense moment must have been all in my head, it was a good thing I did not act on it. A small part of me was a little upset that I did not just dive in and damn the consequences.

This time he stirred some ingredients into the pot, it smelled like bits of seafood and rice but I could not be sure; it was kind of hard to concentrate on the mundane things, especially when my mind kept imagining what he would look like without that shirt on. He had taken his jacket off and was now only wearing a long sleeve shirt that emphasized his chest and arms; again I wondered what he did for a living that gave him such long and lean muscles. Despite of the fact that he had managed to get us lost for a while he was comfortable in the woods, he went up and down hills while carrying that large backpack without stumbling or tripping. So maybe he was some sort of nature guide? That would explain why he knew what sort of illnesses you can get from drinking untreated water.

"This is going to take about fifteen more minutes for the rice to soften up, so if you need the bathroom there is one over there," he pointed out a small door next to the kitchen. "You can go look around the house while you wait."

After using the facilities so to speak and washing my hands in anticipation of dinner I decided to take him up on the offer look around the house. It might give me a clue regarding the current inhabitant.

The massive kitchen took up over almost the entire back of the ground floof. The cabinets were made of the same dark wood as the furniture and had been polished till they gleamed. The counters were a cream colored granite with specs of grey and green in them. Everything looked sturdy and expensive, including the dining room table which was bare except for a large white and blue vase that was currently stuffed full of white and burgundy flowers.

"These are pretty," I looked back at Phil in the kitchen while touching one of the delicate flowers.

"Dahlias," he told me as he stirred the pot once more before replacing the lid. He relaxed in his favorite pose against the counter as watched me explore the place. I noticed that he was not looking at the flowers, instead he was concentrating on me.

"Did you pick them out?" I teased him a little bit, trying to get his intense focus off of me. Not that it was unpleasant, it just made me worried that he would notice too much - currently I could not decide what would be worse: if he figured out I was a wolf or if he figured out I had been fantasizing about taking a bite out of him. I had enjoyed this day far too much to wish it to end, and the thought of having to lie to him did not sit well with me.

He gave me a small shrug, "my grandmother has them in her garden, when we were kids we would gather them by the armful for her."

"Ah that is so sweet, so did you live close to your grandmother when you were growing up?" I was fishing for information and he seemed to be in a sharing mood.

"Not really, but we would go back and spend the summers at her place." He had a far away look on his face, like he was remembering something in the distant past.

I snorted while rolling my eyes in his general direction, "you are not so old that you have to exert yourself to remember back to your childhood."

"Hmmm, but I am old. We had a great deal of fun there, running around like little barbarians." He chuckled and shook his head, probably remembering a specific event.

"We? Who is we?" The jealousy in my tone surprised even me, but luckily Phil did not seem to notice.

"Phila and I, did I not tell you about her?" He shook his head in mock disappointment. He must have been talking about Pride and Prejudice girl, his good friend - the one that I all of a sudden felt jealous of.

_Seriously Leah, hearing about him spending summers with some girl makes you jealous_? You really got to get a hold of yourself. On that note I decided a change to more neutral topics would be good. "Wow someone makes a lot of money," I was looking at the dished displayed on some built in shelves. There was a delicate set of cups with a matching teapot.

"Those are for a traditional tea ceremony." Phil said coming up behind me, I jumped slightly. I had not heard him moving, which was surprising considering I had wolf hearing.

"Some guy really likes his pretty things, tell me how much does this stuff cost?" I was afraid to breathe too close to the cabinet that housed the crystal and china. The cups continued the dragon theme, I was willing to bet they were hand painted. "Those look like they are antiques."

"Some gal, not guy, but yes she likes nice things. You have a good eye, those are antiques but they were bought new. Her family tends to hang on to things for a long time. There are some really cool authentic swords in the study, do you want to see them?" I laughed at his words, suddenly he sounded so eager to show me the weapons.

"Typical boy always excited about weapons," it was hard not to smile around him, he got excited about the silliest things.

He looked back at me, waiting for a real answer to his question. He had big silly grin on his face. How could anyone refuse?

I followed him past the living room, there seemed to be no formal division between the dining area and the living room. There was just a change in furniture, the floors were all hardwood and bare of carpets so they were not helpful either in differentiating between the two rooms.

"Oh yeah before I forget." He stopped by the front door and I watched as he started to pull off his hiking boots. I had noticed earlier that he had traded his regular steel toed boots for hiking boots. "You have to take your shoes off, technically we were breaking the rules by walking around in shoes."

I sat down on the bench next to him to comply with the rules. I put my sneakers next to his hiking boots, I was once again amazed at how large his feet were. My mind immediately shifted into the gutter as I paused for a second to contemplate the size of his "foot".

"Come on let's go," he said impatiently. He led me to the sliding doors that I had noticed earlier. The doors made a slight hiss as they smoothly slid into the walls, I stepped into the large room and looked around. Phil immediately headed away from me with a purposeful stride, I did not watch where he was going but I assumed it was to his swords.

"Here they are," he pointed to them on the wall. He might as well have been presenting me with his children, he was so proud.

I was not that impressed, just three samurai looking swords in their sheaths or whatever they are called.

"Do you want to see one?" Phil asked with a great deal of enthusiasm, while I might be a bitter shrew even I could not deny this man his fun. How could I rain on his parade?

"Sure," I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster, I did not think my tone fooled anyone but he was determined to ignore my lack of excitement.

He lifted one off the pedestal on the wall. His movements were precise, like he had done this before.

While Phil was admiring his precious I was looking around the room. A large and sturdy looking desk was facing away from the ever present wall of widows. The sharp difference between this desk and the one that was nestled into the corner at my house was unsettling. While our desk was filled with paperwork and books for the store, old bill stubs, as well as other odds and end this one had nothing but a small silver lamp and a matching silver laptop. The computer looked shiny, and like everything else in this house very expensive. There were a few small plants on pedestals and a few misshapen looking statues placed around the room. On the right of the door was a set of leather chairs surrounding a small fireplace, on the left there was a flat table, it was completely empty. This room like the rest of the house: perfect, but it was not a home, the usual knick knacks that you find were missing. The strangest part was that there were no pictures, nothing that would give a clue as to who lived here.

"This place is kind of weird," I said mainly to myself.

"What makes you say that?" Phil asked, I noticed he had was putting away the sword. I guess he had figured out I was not that interested.

"I mean no offense, there is nothing here to make this place feel like someone's home," for a moment I made an attempt to be polite, but then I realized polite was not really my thing.

"That is because it isn't a home, it is a place to stay for a while." His tone was matter of fact, the lack of the lived in feel did not seem to bother him as much as it did me.

"Do you have a home?" I asked, curious all of a sudden. He probably was not going to answer me.

"Actually I do, I would offer to take you there but I think your mother might object since we would probably be gone for a few days." While his explanation was given with a smile his tone had a quality to it that told me he would not speak further on the subject.

He gave me a tour of the rest of the house, upstairs were three bedroom with accompanying bathrooms. The two I saw were as impersonal as the rest of the house. One bedroom he pointed out but did not take me in, I wanted to tell him I had already knew what type of underwear he wore.

We wandered down to the kitchen to see if the food was done yet. He said it was Jambalaya, and from the look on his face he expected me to know what it actually was. I simply nodded and smiled, not wanting to look like a complete ignorant bumpkin.

"Hey, do you want a beer?" Phil asked me as he was digging in the fridge, as he waved me towards one of the high stools next to the counter in the kitchen.

I had been offered alcohol in the past but I had never indulged more than a sip or two. Quite frankly I was a coward, there was something about my people not handling it well. _Oh come on Leah why not, you are a big girl? Maybe the werewolf metabolism would take care of it._

"Sure, why not?" I told him with my best 'I am an adult' tone.

The fridge looked bigger than my closet, and from what I could see it was filled with food - surely he was not going to eat it all. He pulled out a few items, I recognized the hot sauce with the rooster on it. I did not recognize the beer bottles he had pulled out.

I heard the fizz and the pop as he opened the beer for me, next he spooned out some of the Jambalaya into a pair of deep bowls. He placed both items in front of me along with a spoon.

"Well are you just going to sit there or dig in?" Phil said pointing his spoon at me, I watched as he doused his food with the red sauce. I seem to recall it being kind of spicy but he looked like he knew what he was doing.

I was hungry and so I took a big spoonful for my first bite. Suddenly my mouth was on fire.

"Good huh? I did not add as much cayenne pepper as I usually do, I figured we should start you off with the mild version." Phil said stirring the red stuff into his bowl before taking a large bite.

_This was mild? _I looked around and quickly took a big swig of my beer. That was not the taste I had been expecting, it was too sweet. But that did not really matter because my mouth was still on fire.

"What is wrong?" his look was a little too innocent.

"My mouth is on fire," I told him looking around for something.

He quickly went back to the fridge and pulled out a red can, it looked like a can whipped cream.

"Here open up," Phil said coming at me with the whip cream. "Don't you trust me?"

"No, I don't," I told him truthfully. He just laughed and continued to hold the whipped cream upside down near my mouth.

I considered resisting for a moment but then decided it would be best to give in, and what could it hurt. He squirted so much of it into my mouth that it overflowed and managed to get on my nose as well. I was about to tell him that he needed to work on his aim but from the dimples that had popped out on his face it was probably best to assume the stuff on my nose was deliberate.

"Now all you need is a cherry on top," he told me with a smile as he wiped the stuff off my nose.

I had to admit the whip cream helped with the burning. "This beer tastes funny." I told him after I had put out the fire in my mouth with another squirt of the stuff - this time I took the can away from him and did it myself.

"Really?" I watched as he took a drink from his bottle, "nope, it tastes good to me."

"This is root beer?" I knew what root beer tasted like, and this was it.

"What, you expected to give you real beer? You know jailbait, giving alcohol to minors is considered illegal in most states." He pointed out helpfully, I watched as he took a huge bite of his food. He must not have any skin left on the inside of his mouth, or his stomach come to think of it.

"And you always follow the laws," I pointed out in a droll tone, remembering the speed with which he drove his motorcycle.

"The ones I think worth following." Yeah I could see him doing that. Bending a few laws that he did not deem worthy, he struck me as being smart enough to know how to get away with it.

He made me a sandwich for dinner since I could not eat his stuff. He promised he would get me to eat real food before he went back home in January. I noticed he seemed to do that a lot, remind me that this was not a permanent arrangement.

It had been drizzling off and on for most of the day but under the canopy of the trees we had been somewhat protected. Now however the rain started to fall down in earnest. I could barely see past the gardens to the woods. I could pretend there was nothing past that garden, that those problems that waited for me at home did not exist. I could pretend for the moment that all that mattered was watching the rain drops dripping off the deep eaves. In this world there were no werewolves, no vampires, and most certainly no imprinting that crushed my dreams.

"Penny for your thoughts," Phil's deep rumbling voice surprised me again.

"My thoughts are worth more than that," I told him with a small smile.

"All right then tell me something, what kind of music do you like?" He had his happy face on, I was beginning to think it was an act because no one stayed that happy all the time.

"How do you get from my thoughts to music?" One thing could be said about Phil, he never did what I expected.

"This place has an awesome built-in sound system, I was wanting to turn it on but I wanted to know your preference first." He was moving his body a little bit, it might have been his attempts at dancing to the music in his head. Note to self, make sure you never let Phil take you somewhere that public dancing is necessary.

"I don't know, I like all sorts of music. What do you like?" I did not want to tell him the music I had been listening to lately, mostly angry girl bands. I wanted to forget about my life for a little bit longer.

"You are going to let me pick the music?" He sounded dubious.

"Sure, why not?" I mean how bad could his music be.

"All right but if I pick you have to listen to the entire song. Promise?"

"Promises are made to be broken." I could not resist teasing him, there might have been a small amount of bitterness that leaked out. Sam had made me promises and he had managed to break most of them - but I would not think of Sam here. I knew Phil had a plan of some sort, I had learned his 'tell' so to speak. When he looked extra innocent he was plotting something.

"Not the promises I make, I keep all my promises - no matter what," he lost his smile and his tone became absolutely serious. I might barely know anything about this man, and he enjoyed teasing me far too much but when he spoke like that I knew he was telling the truth. I got a glimpse of the man behind the smile, and I wanted to know more. Maybe his choice of music would help me understand him better.

"I promise, I will listen to whatever music you pick, but only one song." I told him as solemnly as I could.

"Are you ready?" he asked, his serious mood had passed. I was beginning to suspect the happy guy without a care in the world was a mask that he wore, and a part of me was burning to peel back the layers and find out what he was really like.

He moved over to something on the wall, I had thought it was a picture frame but on closer inspection it looked like a panel of some sort. He was scrolling through a list, the letters were too small for me to read from my spot next to the window.

"That is pretty high tech," I observed, getting a little closer to him.

"Ok here we go, Beethoven's Symphony Number 7, in A Major, Allegretto." I had never heard him use such a reverent tone of voice before.

"You are making me listen to classical music?" My voice cracked with horror, he was going to make me listen to some frou-frou music?

"This is not classical music - this is Beethoven, only the greatest composer ever." He told me utterly serious. "Now Princess I need you to be quiet and listen to the story, there will be a quiz at the end."

I made the zipping gesture across my lips to tell him I would not say anything else and prepared myself to be bored.

I had listened to classical music before but nothing had prepared me for this. It started out slowly, but then the momentum built. I could not only hear the music I could feel it, I knew this story. A girl is walking through her castle in the sky, noticing that there were a few cracks in the walls, she quickly tries to repair the damage. It is a futile endeavor as the cracks get larger and her dream castle starts crumbling down around her. Towers and turrets that had seemed so stable are falling down faster and faster. She throws her whole heart and soul into trying to save it but to no avail, she watches with anguish as it all tumbles down.

I was ready to break down and cry at this point in the music but then the story changed, there was hope, intermingled with bouts of sadness - there was hope.

I don't know how long it lasted, it was not enough but at the same time too much; I had relived the past few months of my life in this song. More importantly I had seen the hope that was present, I just had to fight for it.

Phil looked at me nodding, he could tell I was a convert. "Do you want more?"

All I could do was find a chair to sit down, and nod. Yes I wanted more, I wanted to hear the rest of my story.

* * *

Thus began a strange friendship. Whenever I had time free of work or wolf duties we would go hiking through various places around the area. Some I was familiar with others were further than I had gone before. We would always finish off with food at his place. We never did anything that required being around other people, most of our time was spent in the woods or his solitary cabin.

September changed into October, Embry and Quil joined Jake's pack. Nessie kept growing though she seemed to slow down. The trees slowly lost more of their leaves.

I escaped to Phil's cabin a great deal, he made the comment one day that I should start paying rent. I did not pay rent, but I did bring my beads so that I could work. I set them up at the empty table in the study, Phil found me a chair and a silver lamp that matched the one on the desk. I spent many an evening after work sitting there working on my beads while Phil did whatever he did on the computer - I asked him if he was a writer at one point but he would not give me a clear answer. I learned not to ask questions about what he did outside of our friendship and in turn he did not ask questions about what I did when I would disappear. Things among the wolf pack were a lot more calm, but we were still running patrols just in case.

I understood Bella better now, it was easy to see how she could not help reaching out to Jake - she needed him to get through the worst point in her life. I tended to be selfish when it came to Phil's attention and would not let the other wolves around him very much. I was too afraid they might let something slip, and I would lose my hold on this spark of hope. I had yet to determine wether it was Phil or the oasis his house that gave me that spark of hope.

Despite all his joking about paying rent I knew that Phil liked having me around, at times I would watch him from the forest as he did stuff around the house or in the garden. The man was not capable of being still, during these moment I noticed something that gave me a sense of satisfaction - Phil smiled a heck of a lot more when I was around. I told myself this was because he genuinely liked hanging around me, not the fact that I was beginning to suspect there was a very serious man behind the happy mask he put on for the world to see.

Everything was perfect in my happy little bubble, or so I told myself. It was predictable, calm, and most of all I was able to pretend I was a normal human for a while. I even started looking at enrolling in one of the local colleges. In this cabin I was not a broken hearted werewolf, or a bitter woman. In this place I could dream a little dream, I might not have started to rebuild my castles but I may have been looking at a small cottage to rent.

That was why I was so shocked when Phil told me he would have to leave for a few days.

"I have to go take care of something," he told me one late October evening. We had been toasting marshmallows in his fireplace while a the heavy rain pummeled the house.

"Can't you... I don't know send an email or call someone?" I had seen him do both over the past month.

"No this requires my attendance, I am sorry Princess. I will make it up to you, we will do something awesome when I come back." He gave me his dimpled smile like it would soften the blow.

Then he was gone, and I did not know what I would do without my sanctuary.

* * *

A/N: Ok I feel a little better about this chapter than the last. For some reason I felt it flowed better. Thank you ladies for reading. Oh in case you have not made a note of the fact this is a M rated story you will be warned now. Don't get excited there is no lemons...yet, but there will be in the future and I am worried that some people might be offended by Leah's overactive imagination.

ABarbiestory: Glad you liked it, no you cannot take Phil home; Leah is somewhat possessive of his time right now. Obviously the cabin was not Bella & Edwards, that was a good guess though - it might have led to an interesting twist in the story. Especially if they caught them in a delicate position :D.

Connect2jtb: Glad you like it, this chapter was not changed much, just made to flow a little better...soon there will be more changes. Not to the plot but the way information is presented so it is not overwhelming.

Twilighter: You make me wana really go buck wild with Jailbait but you know I can't make him act like a normal teenager around her. He is a gentleman and most importantly he is kind and considerate of others, that is what makes Jailbait special. He will act a little out of character soon, I promise you soon. I feel kind of bad neglecting him. As for my husband caring about me looking at men's underwear: no he does not care, well he does care in that if I am doing anything fun he wants to watch. :D

Oh well I am off to do evil things... not the fun ones either...stupid, stupid dishes why do you always have to get dirty?


	9. Curiosity

8 - Curiosity

Phil never prohibited me from visiting the cabin, but it would have been strange to show up there without him being in residence. Distracting myself from being able to truly realize that Phil and the cabin were gone was at first an easy task, all the responsibilities I had been neglecting suddenly became my top priorities. Many opportunities presented themselves which allowed me to have little to no free time to think: extra patrol duties, going with Jake to the Cullen's house so he could hunt with his mate, and all the odds and ends that needed to be done around the house and the store.

I don't know why I went with Jake to see the Cullen coven, it made everyone uncomfortable for me to be there. Hating the leeches had become almost like breathing to me and I found that it was a hard habit to break, not that I necessarily really felt like trying to break it; but I knew since Jake was mated to the hybrid he would not sever ties with them. It was not easy to think of them as "people" despite of the way Seth kept on and on about them. Honestly I still hated their deceased guts, they were the cause of everything that went wrong in my life. If it was not for them I might still have my boyfriend, my father, and my dream castle.

On the third evening of Phil's absence and my banishment from the cabin I slowed down enough to have dinner with my family.

"Nice of you to join us Leah," Seth told me as he passed the mashed potatoes. I looked up at my brother, he seemed to have shot up again. It seemed strange but the more powerful they got, the taller they became. Jake was the most powerful and therefore the tallest of the wolves. Sam had been the next in line, in both power and height. Now it seemed Seth was quickly catching up, if he kept growing at this rate he would soon pass Sam - that would be amusing to see.

"Hey Seth have you been sneaking the miracle grow again?" I asked him, slightly punching him in the arm. It was a trick I had picked up from the other wolves, it was a sign of affection to punch each other's arms. The harder you punched them the more you loved them, according to Paul. I think it was just an excuse to hit people, but hey as far as excuses went it was a pretty good one. At least Paul was good for one thing.

"I wish he would stop," my mother joined in jokingly, "I am getting tired of trying to keep him in clothes that are decent enough to wear to school."

"Speaking of school, how is it going?" I was a little ashamed to realize that we had not talked all that much in the past few weeks. Most of my thoughts had been preoccupied of late with getting back to my sanctuary at the cabin - and Phil, that little pesky voice added but I quickly squished it. Most of my patrols had been with Jake, so I had not seen much of my baby brother.

It was nice to know I could act like a human being outside of the cabin; at the beginning of our - I guess the best word for it might be friendship, though that did not feel all that right - when I would leave Phil and the cabin behind, my dark clouds would reform around me. I was a little better at keeping them at bay now; they were still there but I was able to push them aside a bit. My mother had seemed pleased with the changes in me, but more importantly she did not complain overmuch that I spent so much time with Phil. I think the spell that Phil had woven over he must have been really potent.

Maybe she did not complain because she saw me all day long. Working in the family store meant that I still interacted with my mom a great deal, but it was kind of a boss and worker interaction, not a mother and daughter. We had never been close, my father had told me on several occasions that it was because we were too similar but I think he had been trying to make me feel better.

"School is boring, less than a month before we get off for Thanksgiving." Seth said, interrupting my thoughts. I could recall the days when I too would count down to vacation. I did not necessarily hate school, it just got so tedious after a while.

"So what are you doing home?" Seth continued in between shoveling food into his mouth.

"Not that we don't love for you to be here," mother chimed in giving Seth a look.

"Have you decided to move back home or is this just a visit?" Seth continued, ignoring mother's warning glare.

I pretended to seriously ponder the question. "Just a visit, Phil had to go be an adult, his work could not be done long distance this time." I laughed at Seth, I had not been gone that often, had I? Now that I started considering it, I pretty much worked at the store, ran patrols, and hung out with Phil. I came home to sleep and shower. Seth was right, I had been gone a lot.

"I don't see how he can do anything long distance," my mother muttered under her breath.

"What was that mom?" I asked, fishing for more information.

"What? Oh nothing, just talking to myself." I guess she had forgotten both her children had super wolf hearing now. She had misunderstood me, I had asked for her to clarify her words not repeat what she had said.

Two things occurred to me all of a sudden; my mother knew what Phil was hiding from me. This meant that his secret was not a bad thing; it was probably a good thing considering it made my mother feel comfortable enough to let me spend a great deal of time with him. Then why was he hiding it from me? Maybe he was an accountant or something really boring?

I considered this for a minute, if he had told me when we first met that he was an accountant I would probably not have spent any time with him. _I had a reputation to keep up_. I laughed at myself. I had learned my lesson with nice men, I had wanted a bad boy, seems like I got lucky in that Phil turned out to be a decent man that on first impression might have come off as a bad boy. Not that he did not have his bad points, he was insanely addicted to speed. I still got scared sometimes when we would take the motorcycle out instead of the truck, but he was willing to teach me to ride so I did not complain overmuch.

"Seth I keep hearing about you and some girl, Jill Maples." My mother interrupted the silence.

My little brother interested in a girl, it looked like I had hit the older sister pay dirt. "Ooh really who is this?" I asked, mentally rubbing my hands together in anticipation. "Wait is Maples not the Rez cop's name?"

Seth gave me a sheepish look, and I knew my guess was right.

"Oh my god, you are really living on the wild side, trying to date a cop's daughter. Well at least you don't have to worry about him killing you when he will shoot you." I told him laughing.

Seth was a brave soul, Maples was the one cop we were all afraid of and as a general rule tried to avoid at all costs. He had noticed the "gang" that Sam had built around him and had been watching us like a hawk trying to catch us in an illegal act. He was a member of the tribe so of course he knew the legends, but like most of the tribe he thought they were just stories. Jake had asked the elders if he could tell Maples that the stories were true, he had been hoping to find an ally. The elders and Sam had shot him down - telling Jake no without even listening to his reasons.

"I am not dating her." Seth said with a level of disgust that only a fifteen year old could muster when it came to the member of the opposite sex - it was a combination of loathing laced with just the right amount of awe and curiosity. "We just went to a movie together."

"Oh really, that would be considered a date in my book." It felt good to tease Seth. "So have you kissed her yet? I want all the details."

"I don't want to date her," he said, I noticed a change in his tone. Why did my brother sound so forlorn?

"Then why did you go to a movie with her?" I tried to tease him back into his usual sunny mood.

Seth made a face, "I mean I do like her but what if I imprint on someone else. I would not want her to...well you know." All thought of teasing flew from my mind. Suddenly I understood, my brother was trying to spare Jill my fate. He had seen what Sam leaving me had done to my sanity, he wanted to protect her from that. My brother was sweet and selfless enough to spend the rest of his life alone to spare someone that pain. I don't know if I would have been able to be that strong.

_Maybe you already proved you were not capable of being that unselfish._ There were points in time when I thought Phil cared about me a great deal more than he let on. I had noticed he was really good at hiding his emotions, but occasionally his expression would slip, and I would see something that would make my heart beat a little faster - something beyond the lust. I was afraid what would happen if I tried to jump the friendship barricade we had erected between us, and while I was being honest with myself I was also afraid of rejection. Sometimes I would wonder why Phil kept me around, other than to help him navigate the woods. Well he sure as heck needed me for that, he had the worst sense of direction ever. I had learned to be a little more subtle when I redirected him, he had no idea how many times it was actually I that got us to our destination - he could give me a run for my money when it came to stubbornness.

"Speaking of imprinting, what are you going to do about Phil," my mother asked strangely echoing my thoughts.

I sighed and poke my food for bit. "Like he loves to remind me on a daily basis, ours is not a permanent arrangement, he will be gone in a few months. He is a big boy, I have not encouraged him, we are friends, just friends. Maybe I will meet someone when I go off to school." I told her trying to change the subject.

"How is your application process going?" My mother asked politely, but I could detect genuine interest in her voice. I knew she thought I was taking too long, I should have sent my applications to various colleges off months ago.

"Not well, I can't seem to think of anything worse than having to write those stupid essays." I made a face, thinking about the retarded questions you had to fill out along with the applications. How was I supposed to know where I saw myself in five years? I did not think "not in love with Sam" was the answer they were looking for.

"It is part of the process, no one else is going to do it for you." She told me in a chiding voice.

"Phil offered to do them for me," I told my mother with a smile, starting to eat again, hoping she would drop it.

My mother seemed to think I was kidding, and I did not correct her misconception. For some reason Phil seemed almost more determined than I was to see me go to college. I don't know why it came as a surprise, I was willing to guarantee he was a college grad. He seemed to be too knowledgable, though it could have been because he was such a voracious reader. From some of the comments and observations he had made it was pretty obvious he had done a lot of traveling and living; some of the knowledge he had stored away did not come from reading a book. I had picked up on the fact that at some point in the past he could have lived up to the bad boy image he projected when we first met. I got the impression that he spent some time just wandering around not really knowing what to do with himself, luckily he had found what he was looking for because I had never met anyone who was as comfortable in his skin as Phil. This was all speculation on my part, it could just be that his family was so scattered and so he had to travel to see them, but somehow that scenario seemed wrong. _You just want him to be your bad boy, so you won't feel bad if he ever starts developing feelings for you. _I really did hate that pesky voice.

The thought of taking Phil to meet Edward just so I could learn what he was actually thinking was very tempting. It was a scenario that often ran through my mind, especially when Phil was being a jerk and giving me absolutely no details about his past.

I knew Jake was considering it, just so he would know what Phil thought about us, the wolves. Jake wanted to know if Phil suspected something, it was imperative that we protect the tribe secrets. I know from Jake's thoughts that Sam had made a big push to use the Edward to interrogate Phil without his knowledge.

Luckily for Sam's well being Jake had been able to talk him out of that plan. Jake had solid arguments against reading Phil's mind. He had been afraid if we were to introduce Edward to Phil he would get suspicious, the Cullens were not exactly normal looking and Phil was an observant guy. He might not choose to dwell deeper into my secrets but he had to know I had concern could be easily circumvented by me taking Phil out to eat somewhere and Edward standing in the shadows - but I did not mention this to Jake, he did not need me to give him ideas. The second reason Jake did not want to use Edward was a little more personal, Jake had been in the position where he had not choice but to have his mind read, he did not want to think about that sort of violation. It helped when he saw through my thoughts that Phil did not seem interested in the oddities he may have noticed. He was not as curious as Bella had been and that was probably the strongest argument that saved Phil from being mind raped by Edward.

That night after the patrols instead of running home I ran to the cabin. It was all quiet on the inside, nothing moved. I risked shifting to human form and quickly ran inside. The back sliding door was unlocked, I don't think I had seen Phil ever lock it.

I padded through the house, it was strange being completely naked but it was not like I carried clothes with me when I went on patrols. Jake would occasionally take a pair of shorts tied to his hind leg but it was awkward to have to carry a shirt and pants. I was laughing just thinking of how surprised Phil would be if he came home right now. One scenario of how Phil would react to my nudity ran through my thoughts, and I stopped laughing. I was a healthy young woman, and my mind tended to go to the gutter quickly - but it had been over six freaking months of nothing. No sex, no kissing, hell at this point a hug would probably get me off.

In my mind Phil opened the door and looked up to see me standing in the living room naked, he would walk over to me with that long unhurried stride of his and pull me into his embrace. Dream Phil had no problem touching me, running his fingers slowly up my upper arms, and slowly moving them along my shoulders and to that sensitive spot behind my head in order to pull me into a kiss that would be slow and thorough. It would not take me long to get him as naked as I was, especially not with my wolf speed and strength.

I made a face at my fantasies, the most likely scenario was not Phil joining me in nakedness, he was more likely to rush upstairs to find me something to wear. He had this thing about making sure I was warm, he always had to get me a jacket or a raincoat.

He became quite upset one time when it was a little chilly outside and I was not wearing gloves. It drove me nuts sometimes how much effort he spent on trying to keep me warm, he had even gone so far as to buy me a pair of hiking boots. He had thought the sneakers I had been wearing had not been waterproof enough to wear on our hikes, I had absolutely refused to take them until he told me the alternative was him throwing them in the trash. I had learned that it was not a good move to call Phil's bluffs, he would have thrown them in the trash. My acceptance of his gift was not exactly graceful, I had told him that I was not made of "sugar and spice and everything nice."

Phil had not been bothered by my uncivil behavior, "of course you are Princess, you just have a little more spice than most girls." He told me with a wink and a smile.

The ringing of the phone startled me back to the present time, I automatically walked over to the kitchen to answer the wall phone before realizing my current location. It was not my house so I sure as heck was not going to answer it. I heard a click as the phone switched over to the answering machine.

"Hi Princess, I would suggest you turn off the alarm. Unless you want company in a few minutes." I heard Phil's voice, it sounded amused.

I ran across the kitchen to pick up the phone but it was too late. I held the phone next to my ear a little disappointed to be hearing only the dial tone. It took me a minute to register what he had actually said in the message, I had forgotten about the alarm. Moving quickly to the panel by the front door I put in the right code. Phil had never outright told me what it was, but I had seen him enter it enough times to have it memorized.

I walked upstairs realizing I had the house all to myself, my curiosity peaked. Curiosity killed the cat, fortunately for me I was a wolf. I had been in every room of the house except Phil's bedroom, there were various reasons for that. I was a girl and I could not just follow a guy into his bedroom, that might give the wrong impression or the right impression. It all depended on whether my libido or mind was in control. Second, Phil had always kept the door to his rooms closed, like he had a secret in there or something.

I should have felt bad for pretty much invading his privacy but my curiosity soon overrode the feeling. To my surprise the door to Phil's bedroom was actually open, I took a peek inside. Hey I had a good reason to go in there, I needed some clothes._ Yeah right Leah, and it has nothing to do with the possibility of snooping through his things_.

It was all super organized, Phil tended to try to put everything in its place. He had even tried to order my beads at one time. That had not gone well, he learned after that to leave my table alone. There were still times when he did not think I would notice that he would stare at my table in his study and just cringe. Well too f-ing bad, he would just have to get used to it. I happened to like my disorder, but more than that I enjoyed bothering him.

The theme of Phil's room was in accordance with the rest of the house. The walls were a light peach color with the dark cherry wood used in both the furniture and the floors. The bed was perfectly made, the peach quilt matching the walls did not have one crease on it; making me want to jump in the middle of it just to mess it up.

There was a sitting area to one side with a small table and lamp. The dresser was located in the other corner; the top was clear but for a small carved wooden horse - it was obviously hand made and of really good quality but the style was not one I recognized as being made by a native american. I headed over to the dresser, opening the top drawer. I found what I had been looking for, a pile of neatly folded t-shirts. I quickly pulled one on inhaling the scent of laundry detergent and if I took a deep enough breath the smell Phil. I smiled to myself and continued my search. The bathroom was just as ordered, maybe it was because this was not his house but you would think after a month of being here he would have more toiletries. I sniffed his shampoo and aftershave feeling like a pervert, but I was looking for whatever gave him that unique scent that I loved.

The closet was amazing in its size, I have to admit I did not think Phil owned this many clothes, I had not seen him wear a tenth of these. There was a section of several vibrant looking shirts that I was willing to bet were not picked out by him - I had only seen him wear black, grey, and navy blue never these reds or yellows. Maybe someone else had bought them for him and he did not want to hurt their feelings by throwing them out. By the side of the bed was one of the current best selling mysteries as well as a book of what looked to be poetry - it was in a language I did not recognize. I left his rooms disappointed, I had not learned anything new about him.

The pantry yielded some granola and the milk was not expired yet so I decided to "cook" myself some breakfast, then I went to the study to work.

Even though my mother wanted me to make more simple bracelets I could not help but be elaborate, especially here. I guess the simplicity of the cabin allowed me to be creative, there were no distractions here. I had been thinking about an especially elaborate piece, so I settled down to do some serious work for a few hours.

It was not until I was running home later in the afternoon that I realized Phil had called me by name, well Princess but to him that was my name. How had he known that it was me in the house? By the time I got home I had decided it was just him taking a wild guess, he must have been called by the security company that the alarm had been tripped.

* * *

A/N: All right ladies, here is a revised chapter. I am trying to cut back on the size of them because sometimes it seems like too much happens per chapter and things can get overwhelming.

TiffersStar1989: The elements that he surrounded with her, maybe possible he was doing something but I assure you it was not malicious. To answer one of your questions no he is not going to Forks to find out about the pack, he has a very good reason to be in Forks, part of that reason will be revealed soon and another part will take a bit longer. Glad you think Phil is yummy, but Leah saw him first so back off - kidding, if you want to go up against Leah go ahead, but I know I would get my butt kicked.

: Wow I am seriously digging these cool names, I am happy you like the story. I will try to update quickly, but some chapters might take me longer to edit than others.

Connect2tjb: Some of this stuff is mostly repeat, Leah has to find her way out of her dark place, but then we will have some fun. Horny teenage werewolf style :D.

Twilighter: There I updated jailbait and Leah all within a day of each other. You should be proud of me. :D By the way, totally enjoy the conversations.

ABarbieStory: I am happy you liked the last chapter, don't worry soon you will find out what Phil needed to do. I noticed that most girls don't mind the perverted Leah. I remember my asking if you girls wanted lemons or grapefruit and someone at one point asked for watermelon.


	10. Is there a doctor?

9 - Is there a doctor?

The next two days passed too slowly for my taste, I did not go back to the cabin again, despite the amount of progress I had made on the necklace - my conscience finally caught up with me and pointed out how wrong it was for me to invade someone someone's privacy. It was impolite to go there uninvited when he was not around - I chose to ignore the little voice in the back of my head that pointed out that the cabin was just an empty house without Phil there. So I became especially industrious and helped Jon reapply some much needed paint to one of the boats. Day five of Phil's absence came and passed but Phil did not call to tell me he was back.

By the end of the sixth day I was getting seriously paranoid. I went down the list of all the human things that could have happened to him. Car wreck, mugging, choke on a chicken bone - hell that did not even take into account Phil and his crazy driving, people died in motorcycle accidents all the time. That was bad enough but when you added all the supernatural possibilities thing got worse. Random vampire attack, was at the top of my list. Seth had joined us that night for patrols, and I was starting to drive both him and Jake nuts with my worries.

_ Why don't you just go check on him? _Jake finally suggested. _Maybe then we can get some peace._

Getting through the entire patrol was kind of hard, especially since there was some sort of magnet that kept pulling me towards the cabin. Jake finally relented and told me to head that way but stay in wolf form until after our time was up, he did give me a hard time. _Hey Leah, what was that about me being a bridesmaid, at this rate I will not have to wait too long._

Under any other circumstance I could have made some crack about Jake being very anxious to be my bridesmaid but at this point in time I was in a hurry to get to the cabin and check up on Phil. The ever present clouds above me were starting to lighten, indicating that it would soon be morning. The large trees above me blocked out even the meaner morning light, but luckily my wolf sight allowed me to move through the woods without stumbling.

The cabin looked exactly the same as I had left it a few days ago. I circled the house sticking to the woods to see if there was any sign of life inside. Fortunately for my sanity's sake I did not smell any bloodsuckers. _Well that is one fear down and six thousand more to go._

I left the woods and circled closer to the house, my relief was profound when I heard Phil's funny heart beat, the one with the skip. I could recognized it easily, I had been listening to it for the past month. My fear was quickly replaced by fury, how dare he be back and not even bother to call me. Did I matter that little? I was starting to work myself into a nice fit of anger when I heard it - a groan coming from the house, it sounded like someone was in pain.

I debated for less than a second before I phased back into human form, me being naked would have been slightly easier to explain than a huge wolf. Streaking naked across the formal garden I thanked my lucky stars that the cabin was isolated enough that there would be no neighbors to enjoy the show I was putting on.

The house was eerily quiet, as I slowly slid the back door shut. Phil was not making any more noise and my wolf hearing was not good enough to pinpoint his exact location just based on his heartbeat; I swear this house had the best insulation I had ever encountered, usually walls were not able to muffle sounds so well. I ran up the stairs, people tended to go to bed when they were sick, so checking out his bedroom first was a good plan. I was trying to be fast and quiet at the same time, very aware of the fact that I was sans clothing. I did not want to get caught but if Phil was in trouble then I did not want something as silly as being naked get in the way. The kitchen and living room area had empty when I rushed past them.

Phil's room was just as empty, the bed was still perfectly made and it did not look used. I rand to the dresser and pulled out another one of his shirts, two shirts in three days - at this rate I was going to have to offer to do some of his laundry. That was not my main concern, Phil was nowhere to be found. I even looked inside the bathroom. Making another pass in his bedroom and foolishly wasting my time by looking under the bed I learned that the t-shirt might cover everything when I was standing up it did not do a good job if I bent over.

I raided his dresser again, this time in search of some short, I only found some of his boxer briefs. Pulling them on while hopping out of his bedroom I gave up all attempts to be quiet. "Phil?" I called out anxiously while searching the spare bedrooms.

I finally located Phil on the ground floor, he was in the small bathroom off the laundry room. The bathroom was odd compared to the rest of the house in that it lacked windows. The door was closed but I could here his heart on the other side, the heartbeat was faster than usual, the funny skip seeming to be much louder.

"Phil, are you all right?" I cracked the door a little. The relief at seeing Phil alive was short lived.

"Go away," he whispered without looking up. He sitting on the floor right next to the toilet, I could smell the bitter stench of bile in the air. I had never seen Phil like this, he was ashen underneath his dark skin, it was not a good look for him. His hair was not tied back as usual but fell in lanky strands around his head. His shirt looked rumpled like he had been wearing it for a while, that went along with the unwashed body smell. That was shocking in itself, Phil was very fastidious about personal hygiene. I could also see the beads of sweat that were forming across the back of his neck in between the strands of hair.

"Are you all right?" I asked concerned.

He raised his head a little, "go away" he repeated in a voice so quiet I probably would not have heard him had I been human. The movement set him off again, because he moved more fully over the toilet.

He had probably been doing this for a while, his stomach must be completely empty because nothing came out. I stood there helpless, wondering if I should do something. But what could I do, I did not have any medical training.

"Maybe you should go to a hospital." I considered calling an ambulance.

"No ... need... just need dark and quiet. I will be fine." His deep voice cane out much weaker than I was accustomed to.

"But..." I started to argue, but he was not listening to me, he was too busy retching again.

I knew Phil was stubborn enough not to go to the hospital, and since he was an adult the paramedics might not be able to take him against his will.

Finally something obvious occurred to me, I did not have to take him to the hospital, I knew a doctor that could make house calls. My worry made it so that not much of my time was spent pondering the consequences of calling up a leech, instead I dialed the Cullen's number yet again. This was the second phone call I made to the Cullen's for Phil's sake. Too bad he could not appreciate the sacrifices I made for him.

"Hello," Esme had picked up the phone, I asked to see if Carlisle was there. Fortunately for me he had not left for work yet and was able to take my frantic call.

I explained how I had found Phil and wanted to know what I could do for him. Carlisle was concerned but he did not feel comfortable giving advice without examining Phil first.

"Phil," I whispered as quietly as I could, not wanting to aggravate his condition, "I can get a doctor to come here," I only cracked the door open a little, the light seemed to make it worse for him.

There was a pause. "Go away, just a ...migraine." As quiet as Phil had been I guess Carlisle still heard him. Vampire hearing was as good as that of a wolf, if not better.

"A migraine would explain most of his symptoms, and sounds like he already has a diagnosis." Carlisle said quietly.

"Can't you do anything for him?" I was getting desperate, I could hear Phil trying to throw up again.

"Usually learning the triggers and therefore prevention is the best choice. There are certain medications but they do not work for everyone. Sometimes the best cure is simply to keep them in a quiet dark room and make sure they are well hydrated." Carlisle was willing to come and help me but he wanted to respect Phil's choice. I hung up on Carlisle, but not before he told me his cell phone number, I was to call him if anything changed, including Phil's mind about wanting help.

I suppressed a snort, "hell will freeze over first before Phil admits he needs help." The good news was that Edward had some medical training and if Carlisle was tied up at work the red headed vampire would be able to come.

I took Phil some water, and practically poured it down his throat, it came up immediately. I spent the rest of the morning alternating between searching the internet for information about migraines and sitting on the other side of the bathroom door cringing every time I heard him throw up. I had called my mother to explain the situation to her and to inform her that I would not be coming into work today. She was prepared for me missing work, just not for this reason - she was very understanding about taking care of Phil.

I took the duty of keeping him hydrated very seriously, and was trying to make him drink anything every ten or so minutes. I tried every kind of liquid I could think of: water, tea, coffee and even milk. He absolutely refused the last two, saying it would only make it worse.

"The faster you drink something the sooner I will leave you alone." I encourage him - or blackmailed him, depending on which one of us you asked. He refused at first but then he would try, if only to get rid of my. The problems was that any little bit of liquid that I managed to coax him to swallow immediately came up.

I finally gave up by mid afternoon and called the Cullens again, he had not kept anything down. I gave Edward quick directions and went to wait by the back door. I was standing there when I noticed that I was only wearing a T-shirt and underwear. I quickly ran upstairs and dug out a pair of Phil's shorts. It was no big deal, I was used to wearing men's clothing.

It took Edward less than ten minutes to arrive. Jake had come with him, I was grateful for that. I was not really in the mood to deal with a vampire all by myself.

Edward cringed as soon as he entered the house, I watched him grip his head with both hands and exhale slowly. Jake and I exchanged looks, what was wrong with the leech? I quickly moved so that I was standing between the Edward and the door that lead to Phil, just in case.

"What is the matter?" I asked suspiciously. I knew it was a bad idea to bring him here, but I had been too desperate. Phil needed to keep something down.

"His thoughts are completely consumed by the pain, it is beyond excruciating, I don't know how a human can still be conscious." Edward was taking deep breaths. Oh I had almost forgot the mind reader bit, I guess he was feeling whatever was going on in Phil's head. I did not think it possible but my worry escalated, how much pain was Phil in?

"Can you do something?" I asked in a whisper, not wanting to make loud noises in case Phil can hear us.

"Let me go see him," Edward said after a moment. He seemed to have recovered from the initial barrage of Phil's thoughts, but I could still detect some lines of strain around his eyes.

I hovered as Edward entered the bathroom, I was prepared to jump in just in case Edward decided he was hungry. I was being really paranoid but I did not care.

Phil was lying on the ground both his arms covering his head, the blanked I had found to put on him had been shoved aside. The smell of bile still permeated the air, the bitter scent a reminder that Phil had been unable to keep anything down.

I was impressed with Edward, he used a low quiet voice to question Phil, not that he was being cooperative.

No he did not want to be examined. No he did not want any medication. Leave me alone. That seemed to be his mantra for today.

I don't know who I was getting more frustrated with, Phil for being so uncooperative or Edwards for not being able to help him.

"I don't supposed you can start an IV?" Phil said in an exhausted voice.

I could see Edward considering this idea, he stepped out of the bathroom and I followed.

"Why did you not think of that? You are the doctor!" I made the rude remark as soon as we were out of Phil's hearing range.

Edward seemed to ignore my snarky comment, he either attributed it to me being my usual self or he understood about how worried I was. Either way he was polite as he left, promising that he would come back in just a few minutes with the IV equipment.

Jake who had been hanging in the background finally spoke when Edward left. "Hey Leah do you have anything to eat? I am getting hungry."

We dug through the fridge, there was some leftover sandwich meat which was still good. I did not want to but Jake made me eat with him. I was guessing his claim of being hungry was just a ruse to get me to eat, but I was too worried to be thankful right now.

Edward came back in record time. What he did not do in record time was find Phil's vein. _You would think a vampire would know how to find blood_, I thought to myself.

I had forgotten yet again about Edwards ability, he looked over his shoulder to give me a dirty look for a second before trying yet again to find a vein. "His veins are in the wrong places, it is almost like someone wired him wrong. It also does not help that he is already dehydrated," he muttered to himself as he finally located a good one.

Edward quickly left yet again after showing me how to change the bag if necessary, Jake followed soon after mentioning that he would get someone else to cover my patrols for tonight. Honestly my patrol duties had completely slipped my mind, taking care of Phil was much more important than chasing after shadows. Sam really needed to let this paranoia go or he would work himself into several ulcers, regardless of the fact that he has wolf healing.

The IV was a good idea, Phil seemed to regain a bit of his color and I settled down in front of the TV to occupy myself with something other than worry. I have no idea what I had been watching on the television, maybe the cooking channel. I was truly exhausted, having not slept in over a day. It was starting to be dark outside when I finally made myself move from the couch. If I spent one more minute in the comfortable chair I would fall asleep and not wake up for several day.

That was not an option right now, Phil might still need me. Pushing myself off the couch with a tired groan I headed to check on Phil.

He was still in the small windowless bathroom, when I had tried to move him to his room he had been insistent on staying there - something about the light making it worse. I cracked the door open slightly wincing at the creaking sound. Phil was sitting next to the closed toilet, his head on the lid, snoring quietly. I backed out again not wanting to wake him.

I leaned against the closed door and slowly slid down the hard surface, my feet seeming to have lost all energy. Phil's deep steady breaths were a comforting sound, his heartbeat was going at a much slower pace than earlier when he was in pain. That funny little skipping sound was almost too faint to hear. The adrenaline high from worrying about Phil suddenly ran out and I felt the consequences of not having gotten any sleep in the past day.

I must have fallen asleep because the next time I opened my eyes it was bright outside, the type of bright that signaled a day with a thin cloud cover and a possibility of actually seeing sunshine. I was in one of the spare bedrooms of the cabin, the blanket tucked around me. The clock next to the bed it said 3:30, I instantly became fully awake. How had I slept this long? What if something happened to Phil. I pushed the blanket off of me and rushed out the door. In my haste I did not notice the large man standing in the hallway until I ran into him, nearly toppling both of us over.

He was freshly showered, his hair was slicked back and still damp. He was a little pale compared to his normal healthy color but nothing like yesterday.

"Good morning, Princess" he said, "you hungry?" His huge smile and the dimples came out in full force.

Just having woken up meant that my mind was not working at one hundred percent; when that was combine that with the worry I had felt ever since stepping foot into this house - heck, ever since he had left me - well you have to forgive a girl for getting a little pissed off. "You hungry? That is all that you have to say?" My questions came out more like a growl, my hands were starting to shake. I thought he was freaking going to die, especially when he kept nothing down. And now he had the audacity to just stand there and smile while asking me if I was hungry.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked with a confused look. All my worries from last night came crashing down and I punched his arm not really watching my strength.

As he rubbed the spot a look of understanding crossing his face. "I am sorry I scared you Princess, really everything is fine." He reach out and pulled me into his arms. "It was just a migraine, nothing more."

In retrospect I could not figure out why I allowed myself to be pushed around but I let him pull my head onto his broad shoulder. The grey shirt he was wearing was softer than it looked and I nuzzled it slightly as I took a deep breath - hmmm the scent of soap, deodorant and Phil. I allowed him to give me the comfort I so desperately needed. Much to my mortification I started to cry all over his shoulder. It was not the cute girl cry either, but the snorting, sobbing kind. I was not crying because of my fear for his health, he was a really healthy guy and really if I took my emotions out of it I would have known he would be fine. I was crying for fear of losing my sanity.

A few months ago I had fallen into this dark pit, and no matter what I tried my efforts only managed to dig me deeper and deeper into the mire. Now I could see the way out of this place, there were a few small ledges that would allow me to climb out. I cried because I realized I needed this man to give me a little boost every once in a while so I could reach those ledges, and I did not want him to leave just yet. I needed his help for a little while longer, until I could be strong enough to finish climbing out all by myself.

I have to hand it to Phil, he let finish crying without squirming or trying to say anything significant. He just held me and rubbed my back while murmuring nonsense into my hair. When it looked like I was done, he sent me to take a shower while he made breakfast.

It took an extra long shower for me to regain my composure, though I did not like to admit to myself that I needed Phil. How could I become dependent on another man? The only thing saving me from going completely insane was the knowledge that I did not need him to be a lover, in fact it was best that he would just be my friend right now. When I had finished with my shower I came out to find brand new jeans, a shirt and underwear laid out on the bed - all in my size. I found Phil downstairs in the kitchen, his shirt was dark blue instead of the grey he had been wearing earlier. Embarrassment at getting snot all over his shirt caught up with me as I looked at his broad back but that was quickly banished by the meal in front of me. Star shaped blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon, and my all time favorite, homemade granola. I had not realized such a thing existed before meeting Phil, but now I wondered how it was possible to live without the stuff. He told me the secret was in the honey, but while he would share a jar of it with me he would not tell me where he actually got the stuff. The jar looked like the kind you normally buy to put your preserves in, there was no label to help me decipher how to get more.

After thanking me for holding his head while he while he prayed to the porcelain gods he sat down beside me to consume his own breakfast. My little breakdown was not mentioned by him and I sure as hell was not going to bring it up.

My mother did not say anything when I got home that night, I am guessing Phil had called her to smooth things over. I thought about calling the Cullen family to thank them for their help, but I decided it would be best if I just did it in person.

A few days later we were back to normal, it helped that Phil behaved as if I had not spent some time smearing his shirt with my snot. We were headed up to a small waterfall he had read about, he was one of those people that not only bought the local guide book but actually spent the time to read it. The path was somewhat overgrown and had seen little use in the past summer, but I knew the general direction and could easily nudge Phil to go where I wanted.

It was barely noon, and I was getting hungry but I did not say anything because we were almost to our destination - it would be fun to eat our lunch next to the waterfall. Phil abruptly paused mid stride, had it not been for my wolf reflexes I would have probably bumped into him.

"Phil what's wrong?" I asked when he did not start moving again. Ever since the migraine incident I had become a little more aware of his human fragility. I moved to the side so that I could see his face.

He was focused on something off in the distance, it did not appear as if he had heard me. I grabbed his arm to get his attention but even as he turned to look down at me I noted that his eyes were seeing my face. He was concentrating on something, something extremely unpleasant if his expression was any indication.

I stood there staring up at him for a moment, as his face cleared. My Phil came back, the one with the constant smile.

"Sorry about that, I forgot about something I had to do. Something rather annoying." He said with a small laugh that sounded disingenuous to my ears.

"And what was that?" I asked suspiciously.

"It was my mother's birthday yesterday, I forgot to call her." He made a silly face as he spoke. I laughed at him, from what I heard him say his mother was a little crazy.

We continued to follow our path, Phil twined his arm around mine and smiled down at me. "Tell me Princess are you getting hungry yet?"

Before I could say anything another voice answered my question. "Yeah lunch sounds good right now. What do you ladies think?" I looked up horrified at the thing that had spoken. Vampires! Red eyed vampires - three of them. They looked a little wild, more true to their monster nature. The clothes they were wearing looked ill fitting as well as unkept. They had probably taken them off their victims. The male had been the one who had spoken, but the two females looked like the were ready to join in on the party.

I quickly considered my options. But I had none, there was only one thing to do.

"Would you like some lunch, we can..." Phil started to invite them politely to have lunch with us. If I phased quickly I could kill one before they figured out that I was the predator not the prey; if I did it quickly enough I might be able to take a second one down as well. The smaller female seemed really interested in Phil, she would have to die first. Then I could move onto the male on her left. I had no idea what would happen to the second female but I knew my pack would find them and destroy them, even if I did not survive this.

I paused for a moment to regret the loss of my hiking boots, they were really comfy. The next instant I phased into a wolf, tearing through all my clothes. It had happened quicker than normal, but I guess I had the extra inducement.

As I jumped towards the smaller female I hit a wall. No, it was not a wall, more like a cushion, I fell back softly and felt my limbs get heavier. I fought as hard as I could but my mind would not cooperate, like my body it too felt wrapped in cotton. _Must kill the leeches._ I felt my mind relaxing, I felt myself slowly phase back to human form.

I woke up slightly groggy, I looked around me. Phil was leaning against a fallen log, his backpack still on, he was snoring softly. My stomach grumbled, I was getting kind of hungry. I wonder if I could get food out of the backpack without waking Phil.

I stood up, "wow head rush," I had to put a hand on the tree to steady myself. It was strange for me to be this out of it, serves me right for taking a nap.

I quickly found my balance again, though my thoughts were still a little slow. I walked over to look down at Phil, he looked so much younger when he was asleep. He also looked sexy as hell, the top button of his shirt was open giving me a glimpse of the muscles underneath. There was just something about the heavily corded neck that drew me me in, I wanted to lean down and nuzzle that spot underneath his adam's apple. Damn I needed a man, and this one really did it for me. Too bad I had not imprinted on him, more and more I thought he would solve all my problems. _Shut up Leah, you are a big girl, you can solve your own problems._

The first problem I had to solve is how to get to the backpack open and get the food out without waking Phil. I stepped to the side, hoping I could somehow unzip it without moving it too much. There was a snap as I stepped on a twig, Phil opened his eyes. He slowly focused on my face and gave me a quick smile.

"Is there any particular reason you are hovering over me?" He asked me looking confused.

"You are using my food as a pillow," I pointed to the backpack he had behind him, hopefully he would not notice the blush on my face. The though of him waking up to find me drooling over his body was embarrassing.

"Oh," he said looking back and noticing he still had his backpack on.

He got up, I noticed his movements were a little slower too. But as we settled down to eat the food seemed to wake us both up. We laughed at the fact that we both had managed to fall asleep in the middle of the forest.

That night I was getting ready to go for my patrols, I noticed something odd. All three prongs of my bra were fastened, that was strange - I never fastened all three. I had learned the hard way that you do not want to be trying to phase into a wolf while trying to take your bra off, so now I only fastened one prong - if I wore the bra in the first place. I could not remember why I had hooked all three this morning. As I was fiddling with the bra, I remembered the dream about the three thirsty vampires and phasing to wolf in front of Phil. It had seemed so real. It must have been a dream, because I had ripped through all my clothes; the clothes that were in one piece nicely folded on my bed. I shook my head in confusion, things were still a little hazy, that nap had really messed me up.

* * *

"_Did you take care of the problem?" The man asked the woman standing beside him._

"_There was really nothing left to take care of, all I had to do is start the fire." She gave him a small push, nearly making him lose his balance and fall out of the large tree. "You could have avoided the whole situation."_

"_No, I did not _see_ anything, that was a complete surprise." He gave a small frown wondering what else he would fail to see._

_The woman next to him gave him a funny look, "how could you miss something this important? You were almost caught."_

* * *

A/N: There you go girls, another chapter, two in one day... well it would have been except it is now close to one am here.

Connect2tjb: Thanks for coming along for the ride :D

Ms animegoddess: Here you go, the next chapter. Just for you ;P. Glad you liked the last one.

ABarbieStory: No Phil did not have a camera in the house. I will explain later how he knew. As for the mystery, I will try to keep the mystery going for a while, only revealing some pieces. Hopefully you are going to get a goodnight sleep and enjoy this next chapter. Sweet dreams, I am headed that way too. Just as soon as I post this chapter and check in on my little sleeping cherubs.


	11. Party

10 - Party

"Leah can you watch the store while I run home to make us some lunch?" My mother asked as she was putting on her jacket, it had gotten chilly outside in the past couple of days. The cloud cover had gotten thicker and thicker, it might have been nice if it would have let to snow but that was not to be. The temperature was cool enough to make most humans uncomfortable but not cold enough to allow for snow - we only got that cold bone chilling drizzle. It was a good think I was a wolf and did not need feel cold, but my poor mother kept complaining about her old joints.

"If you don't want to get out in this weather I can go get something, I have been practicing." I had gotten better in the kitchen, Phil insistent that I was going to learn how to feed myself. He had even gotten me a cookbook, it was one of those that only had microwave recipes, but I guess you had to start somewhere.

"Ah, that is all right, I have to go pick up some paperwork at the house anyway." My mother did not quite meet my eye as she made a big project out of searching her pockets. She was not ready to test out my culinary skills.

"What are you looking for mom?" I asked, not making it easy for her, I felt slightly insulted - my cooking had been horrible but I was trying. How would she see the improvements I had made if she never gave me a chance? _Be honest with yourself Leah, your mother has had years of experience watching your cooking failure. Plus you don't have Phil here to guide you through every step._

"My keys," she said still not making eye contact, she patted down her pockets yet another time.

"The keys on the counter?" I asked her pointing to them sitting right in front of her. "Don't worry mom, I know you are not ready to accept the fact that I might now be able to boil water without setting the house on fire."

"I have something I wanted to pick up at the house." She repeated in a determined voice, I could tell my mother did not want to hurt my feelings. The blush on her cheeks was a bit of a clue.

"Don't worry there is nothing you can say that Phil has not already said, he made some very scathing remarks about my inability to even considering to learn how to cook." How was I going to be an independent woman if I could not take care of myself, he had scolded. It was quite a long tirade, only by calling him daddy had I finally succeeded in stoping the lecture.

My mother had not been gone five minutes when I heard the front door open. For a minute I thought she had forgotten something.

It was not my mother returning but Sam at the door. He gave me a short greeting, seeming nervous. Of course I got suspicious, Sam was never nervous - because he always knew best and would use his alpha voice to make you if you were resistant.

"What do you want?" I asked him not bothering to say hello back at him. Somehow I doubted he was a potential customer so there was no reason to be polite.

"Well we are having a small party at the house this Saturday, I was wondering if you and your boyfriend would want to come." He seemed a little hesitant.

I did not have to ask who he thought my boyfriend was and I sure as hell was not going to explain that Phil and I did not have that sort of relationship. At one point in the past it might have been important for Sam to know those sort of things but that time has passed - now he was on a need to know basis, and there was nothing about me he needed to know. "Why, so you can spy on us?"

"Hey I have not done that in over a month, and it was only to make sure you were not hurt. You don't have any common sense." He got all defensive on me. To be honest I have not noticed him or any of his pack members following us after that one night when I had it out with Sam. He had given me my space just like I had asked him to; oh shit the world was coming to an end, Sam had actually listened to another person.

"Can't I ask as a friend?" Sam spoke, interrupting my thoughts - it was easy to see he was getting frustrated at my refusal to immediately comply.

"Friends? Why in the hell do you think I want to be your friend?" I asked him angrily. I would rather face another newborn army of vampires.

"We used to be friends." He said quietly, I was not certain why he was so insistent on me coming over for dinner on Saturday; but I was willing to bet it was not for a reason I would approve.

"No Sam we used to be a couple, but now you are fucking my former best friend." He flinched at my words, the truth was not something he wanted to hear? Well to freaking bad, he was the one who had come here today and decided to start trying to be best buds or some crap like that. "Why don't you go be friends with Emily?" I could feel the bitterness welling up inside of me and I had to take a moment to push it back down. There was something about this man that brought out the worst in me - _could be because he is a conniving piece of shit._ "Sam, quite frankly I just don't want to be around you." I can't believe that lie came out of my mouth, we both knew it was only partially true. I wanted his friendship and a whole lot more, but I was not going to get that from him so I might as well cut my loses.

Sam took a deep breath like he was going to call me out on my lie, but then he seemed to change his mind. "Think about it, Saturday afternoon around five. Some of the guys will be there too, so it will not only be us. Emily kind of misses her friend, she has some things to talk to you about."

I encouraged Sam to leave soon after that unless he wanted to explain to my mother why the store was trashed. He was making me so angry my hands were starting to shake, I had figured out why he wanted me to attend. His Emily wanted me to be there so he was willing to go the distance.

Just what I wanted to do on a Saturday night, go see them being domestic, living my dreams. They were living with his mother, Emily was busy planning for a wedding, as a bridesmaid I guess I should have known a little more about her plans but I could not handle that yet. I know Sam had been picking up odd jobs, it was hard for him to stay with a steady job since his wolf duties might take him away. I had not payed too much attention to the details of their lives, the little green monster was very much alive inside of me and would probably eat me up if I learned too much about them.

* * *

I was still in a bad mood that night while Phil was finishing up dinner; when bragging about my newfound cooking skills I may have left out the part where Phil cooked all the food we ate - the stuff I made usually ended up in the trash. There is just something unappetizing about microwave baked chocolate cake when you have a seven layer white and dark chocolate cake with strawberries sitting on the counter.

My grouchiness did not seem to bother Phil, I had learned early on that picking a fight with him was a futile effort - he was oblivious to the fact that I really needed a good shouting contest to relive some of my stress. Sometimes I wished he would be a little less happy, but then I would miss the dimples.

"How was your day?" He asked as he was layering some pasta and cheese into a casserole dish.

"Sam decided to invite me for dinner. Can you believe the guy?" I certainly could still not believe his audacity. "The worst part is he did not do it because he wants my company, he did it because Emily wants me to be there." I could feel myself getting truly angry at this point.

"Ex boyfriend?" Phil asked as he adjusted the oven.

I did not answer, I just gave him a look that I hope conveyed "mind your own business". A little voice in the back of my mind pointed out that it was I who had brought up the subject of Sam, but that voice was quickly drowned out by my anger.

I was not aware of how much Phil knew about my situation with Sam, this was the one place I did not talk about Sam. But Phil is not stupid, so I guess he figured it out a while back why I was so angry with Sam. It was not that big of a deal if Phil figured it out, the thought of seeing the look of pity in Phil's eyes is what made my stomach clench in fear. Would he see that I still loved Sam? would he think I was weak because of it?

"You know what the greatest form of revenge is?" Phil asked after a few minutes of silence.

"No, but I am sure you will tell me, o wise one." Sometimes I felt like he was a walking fortune cookie, he seemed to have advice for any situation. There were times when the though of the confused look on his face almost made me want to betray my tribe's secrets. It would have been amusing to see what advice he had for the only female werewolf in the tribe.

"To be happy." He wagged his eyebrows up and down while I gave him a confused look, "think about it, Princess. Generally speaking if someone treated you like crap they expect you to feel bad. So the best way to piss them off is to be happy despite of what they did."

"Some people make you feel bad without trying." I clarified, Sam had no control about imprinting on Emily.

"The being happy plan works out great for both situations. They will either be happy for you and be glad that you have moved on, or they will be upset knowing they matter so little to you that you can live without them. Trust me nothing bothers people more than you forgetting them." He gave me a wink as he wiped down the counters and put the dirty bowl and spoon he had used into the sink.

His convoluted words were almost starting to make sense, though I think the best revenge would have been ripping Sam's balls off and feeding it to a vampire. A distraction from the topic of Sam and my thoughts of revenge was necessary, so I threw myself across the couch and turned on the TV.

Phil joined me after cleaning the kitchen and balanced on the arm of the couch, I could tell that he was looking at me but I was determined not to make eye contact - putting all my focus into channel surfing. Unfortunately for me Phil was a stubborn bastard and could play the silent waiting game far longer than I. "What?" I finally asked looking away from the television.

"You should accept the invitation," his eyes were filled with far too much mischief for me to completely trust him.

"Not you too. What is this, a conspiracy?" I grumbled with a little less vigor than before.

"Come on, what do you have to lose?" he continued his argument probably feeling my resistance weakening.

"Honestly only my dignity, but that was lost a while back," I cringed at the memories of begging Sam to take me back. The worst part about it was that the only thing keeping me from doing it again was the knowledge that nothing would bring Sam back to me. If only my heart would get the memo everything would be a lot better.

"Just tell me who to take down and I will. I can do it verbally or I got a nice baseball bat I can bring to the party." He gave me his full smile, dimples and all. But for some reason I did not think he was joking, my knight in shinning armor was willing to defend me. Too bad he did not stand a chance against them, though a bat to Sam's knees might be amusing to see. It is not like it would do any permanent damage.

Did I really want to go to this party? Hell no. But that did not mean I wanted to be seen as a coward, and pitied some more.

For a moment concern for Phil's safety popped up, so far he had been kept away from the pack but that would change if Phil went to this party. Sam did not hang out with anyone else these days but the pack members and the elders - I would be willing to be a great deal of money that there would be at least one other wolf in attendance.

Phil might not be able to take Sam on physically but there was a very low chance that Sam could be provoked into a fight. Now in a verbal competition Sam did not stand a chance against Phil. That might be interesting to see but not worth having to watch Sam and Emily make eyes at each other. But if it was a big enough party I could avoid the two of them and still save face. Because you can bet that my absence would be glaringly obvious as well as my reason for avoiding it. As for the other wolves that would probably be in attendance, the need to keep the secret should keep Phil safe enough; but just in case I would be sure to stay close to him.

"But what if I am not happy?" I finally asked Phil, wanting him to come up with a solution for me but at the same time regretting how much I had revealed in that simple question. Fortunately the timer on the oven went off, my depression was not something I wanted to talk about - especially here, in the sanctuary of the cabin.

It was not until he dropped me off later that night that he finally answered my question, it took me a while after he had driven off to understand what he was referring to. "You are just going to have to learn to fake it."

* * *

When Jake and I finished with the patrol on early Saturday morning the ever present clouds were missing from the sky, we had even been able to see some stars. It looked like the clouds would stay away, at least until the afternoon; this was one thing that put me in a good mood - the only thing that put me in a good mood.

It was a little past lunch when I approached my mother to ask her if I could get off a bit early today. I had put in extra hours last night finishing an elaborate necklace, so I did not feel as guilty leaving so early. Not that I had been doing much; the boats were clean, nothing needed painting, and it was late enough in the year that few customers showed up. I had been sitting around all morning making doodles thinking about possibly starting a new style of bracelets; they were a little more complex than I had ever attempted before, I was still just playing with around with the possibilities. My mother did not make too much fuss over me leaving, I guess she saw how distracted I had gotten as the day went on.

After a quick shower I spent twenty minutes standing in front of my nearly empty closet trying to figure out what to wear. I had added some clothes in the past month, but it was nothing compared to what I used to have. All of my dressy clothes had been given away, and the only new additions to my wardrobe usually were for work not a party.

I don't know why I hesitated, I pretty much had one nice shirt, a shinny green satin that went really well with my skin. I paired it with a pair of black jeans. Maybe I was hoping that a sexy little black number had magically appeared in my closet. With a grunt of disgust I pulled on my jeans, and moved to my dresser. Maybe a few accessories would make my outfit less plain.

Since becoming a werewolf my pierced ears had healed, I could not wear earrings anymore. I had not gotten rid of them yet, hoping that in the future if I got calm enough and stopped phasing I could have my ears pierced again.

The item I was searching for was in the bottom of the little box that housed my jewelry. My grandmother's necklace, it was somewhat simple with four rows of thick beads and a small wooden carved wolf as a pendant; it had been a wedding gift to my grandmother from my great-grandmother. I often wondered if my grandmother had actually understood the significance of the wolf, her father had been a shifter but maybe she had never been told the truth about tribal legends. My father had given the necklace to me for my eighteenth birthday, I had not been impressed with the present at the time. I appreciated it a lot more now, considering he was gone.

I did not put on too much makeup, I did not need it; the wolf healing abilities were good for some things, they kept my skin miraculously clear. So I stuck to lip gloss and a small amount of eye shadow. I had to give up on any form of perfume, it smelled wrong to my wolf senses. I hoped that Phil did not feel the need to put on some sort of cologne, he usually smelled of soap and deodorant but maybe he might get more dressy - I had told him jeans were fine when he had asked.

I should not worry though, Phil was not the type of guy that seemed to trouble himself with his appearance. My hair did not take much fixing, it was short so I just ran a quick comb through it and called it done.

I was finished with my preparation far too early, so I stood there in the living room waiting for Phil; we were going to go together, he had promised to pick me up. As I was pacing back and forth I noticed the time, it was only a quarter past four, I had another forty five minutes to go before he was supposed to be here.

I did not want to see Sam and Emily playing house together, but Phil was right - this was a small tribe and eventually we would have to spend time together. My only comfort was that I knew Phil would not ask question if all of a sudden I wanted to leave.

I heard Phil's truck coming down the road before I saw it. I quickly ran to my room and got a jacket. I was not cold but Phil would insist, he was constantly trying to get me to on another layer.

Phil was pulling his truck into the driveway when I got outside, I don't know why but I was getting really nervous.

I had just opened the passenger door when I noticed the boxes in the bed of the truck. "What are those?"

"What?" Phil seemed distracted, he looked behind him. "Oh that is just some food."

I counted eight boxes filled with foil covered trays, I laughed, "how much food did you bring?" Only Phil would think that was just 'some food'.

"I called and asked your mother about it, she told me that I could not bring too much food." He shrugged like it was common for him to call my mother up and chat with her.

"Wait? You talked to my mother about it, why did you not just ask me?" I don't know how happy I felt about him consulting my mother.

"Why not? I talk to her all the time." Phil said as he pulled out of the driveway. I waited for him to ask me for directions, but maybe he had already talked to my mother about that as well.

"What exactly do you mean when you say you talk to her all the time?" I asked quietly, I could feel myself getting annoyed. It was preferable to being nervous.

"How did you think you have gotten away with practically living at my place? I call her and tell her of our plans, we exchange recipe ideas. You know the boring stuff people over thirty talk about." He gave me the dimpled smile before turning back to the watch the road.

"What do you mean over thirty? You are over thirty?" I got distracted as he actually shared something with me about himself. My anger at him talking to my mother forgotten.

"Yup, over thirty and I have to admit I am closer to forty than thirty at this point." There was far to much amusement in his voice, there was a joke I was missing. Most people were not this happy to admit they were getting old.

Closer to forty? I would have given him the over thirty, he seemed too worldly to be as young as he looked, but he was in too good shape to be that old. I smiled a little, what did I know about being forty?

"Oh you got me distracted, I forgot." I watched as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. It was very nicely wrapped with a big pink ribbon on top of it. I freaked out as he used his knees to hold the steering wheel as he fluffed up the ribbon that had gotten squished in his jacket pocket.

"What is this?" I asked him as he handed it over to me. I noticed he was driving more slowly today, but that could have been just because he did not know exactly where he was going.

"A gift obviously." He said as he put his hand back on the steering wheel, "well open it." He seemed eager for me to see it, I was still wondering why he was getting me a gift.

"Thanks," I said pulling off the bow. Inside in cotton swabbing was a bracelet with silver beads and little silver and enamel trinkets hanging from it. It looked like he had gone with a flower theme.

"I did not know your wrist size, so I got you an elastic one. It should be stretchy enough to fit most wrists but if it is too big you can pull off some of the beads to make it smaller if necessary. I even picked out the flowers." I looked up at him as he talked, he seemed somewhat expectant and I would say unsure of himself. But that was ridiculous, as I had noticed very early on that Phil's ego was huge - his self confidence iron clad.

I tried it on just to be polite, he should not have worried about the fit - it was the perfect size. This was kind of nice, the string holding the beads together was stretchy enough that I could probably shift into wolf form without destroying it. Not that I had any plans to phase tonight, but you never knew.

I played with the three flowers, they did not really match. The shapes and the colors were too different, he should have kept either the colors or the shapes of the flowers the same. It would have looked better that way, but it would have only hurt his feelings to tell Phil that so I kept my opinion to myself.

"What are they?" I asked being nice.

"Umm the sales lady told me what they were, the blue one is forget-me-not, the white one is a gardenia, and the purple one is hyacinth." I watched as he shrugged his shoulders. "I thought they were pretty, just like you." The last part was delivered with happy wink.

I smiled even though I was highly tempted to explain to him about what went well together, but it was nice of him to get me a gift. It was the thought that counted right. Then a funny thing occurred to me, if he ever got married I hoped he let the girl pick out the ring. She might be stuck with some awful looking engagement ring for the rest of her life.

As we pulled up in front of Sam's mother's house I noticed that there were a lot more people than I had anticipated. From the noise and the bits and pieces I saw, it looked live every member wolf was here, both from Sam's and Jakes pack.

This was more than just a cute dinner between friends, I had been lied to. When we got out I could smell the lighter fluid and the burning hot dogs; it was a true party, Rez style. There were tables set up in the side yard with folding chairs, some people were already sitting around them eating the food.

"A small dinner my ass." I muttered under my breath before slamming the door shut with more force than necessary.

"What was that?" Phil asked, as he too go out.

"Nothing," I said on a sigh. This was going to be worse than I had thought. "On a happy note I don't think you brought enough food."

I started heading to the back to help Phil get the boxes. It was not until he was bending over to rearrange the boxes that I noticed what he was wearing; actually all I noticed was the pants covering his rear. He had a nice ass, especially for a thirty something year old; but I had noticed that before. That did not mean I could not appreciate the view yet again.

I went to stand next to him, subjecting him to a quick inspection.

He was dressed in khaki pants with a nice belt as well as a light blue button up shirt that looked freshly ironed - the top few buttons were undone giving a nice glimpse of his light coffee colored skin. He had exchanged his usual boots for a pair of loafers that were black just like his leather jacket. Moving to reach for a box to carry I noticed he smelled really good, better than usual, something citrusy with maybe a hint of sage. Taking a deep breath I tried not to be too obvious in trying to identify the smells: there was the usual soap and Phil, but now he had added an extra layer of tastiness. Pulling my mind out of the gutter and pushing away thoughts of licking that patch of skin that had been revealed by the unbuttoned shirt to see if he tasted as good as he smelled I turned abruptly only to be met by several pack members. By the serious look on all their faces I knew this was going to be the initial attempts to scare Phil, I would have been more angry at them had it not been the fact that I was worried they had seen me ogling Phil. _Everyone already thinks he is your boyfriend so why not "pretend" a little bit tonight._

While I was occupied with glaring back at the boys Phil had grabbed his box and turned around only to meet up with a very serious looking Jared.

I stepped a little closer to Phil, not questioning the sudden need to protect him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a mischievous look come on Phil's face and then it cleared to make room for a huge smile. He had really big white teeth and he was determined to show them off to everyone in sight. I watched as Phil shoved the box in his hand at Jared; Jared had the choice to either uncross his arms or let the box drop on the ground.

Jared was not stupid, like me he could smell the wonderful aroma coming out of the box. Given a choice between threatening an outsider and food, Jared picked the food.

"Great you can help me carry stuff." Phil said dismissing Jared and his attempts at intimidation by turning around and reaching for another box. This one got showed at Paul.

"Nice of you boys to all come out and help." Phil said to the surprised group. I watched as Phil handed out boxes to all the guys. He even handed my box off, after giving my arm a quick reassuring squeeze.

I hid my laugh as I watched Phil maneuver the boys with the boxes to the serving tables. Phil was lecturing them on how to properly unpack and place the items on the table.

Phil one point, wolves zero. Suddenly feeling much more optimistic about the evening I left Phil to his own devices as I walked around to see who else was here. Like I noted earlier, most of the wolves were in attendance. I saw Jake's sister and Kim, so I guess the mates were here as well. I did not see Sam or Emily, but that could be either a good or a bad thing. What could they be doing that would make them miss the arrival of new guests? Emily tended to try to channel Martha Stewart, and was always cooking and feeding the pack.

I found my brother and Jake manning the two of the grills. Seth waved at me before turning back to his job. Standing next to him was a small girl, I recognized her from school, Jill Maples. She was tiny next to my brother, her thin brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, then held back with a headband just to make sure nothing got away. She was wearing jeans, a t-shirt coupled with what looked like a poorly knit homemade sweater. Rumor had it her parents were really strict, I wondered how she had managed to get permission to come to this party. Why my brother was dating her was a mystery to me, but I guess she looked like a nice enough girl - if you like the uptight, never is willing to do anything fun types.

"Leah, you remember Jill," Seth said waving with his barbecue fork, though on closer inspection it looked more like a stick that had been split in two. Yeah, this was a really high class sort of party.

I nodded in her general direction but noticed she took a little step back, fear in her eyes. What the fuck? I knew I had a reputation as a bitch but I did not pick on pathetic little things like her. Not even bothering to speak to her I turned to my pack leader, "hey Jake."

Jake acknowledged me with a nod. I considered calling him lord and master but there were too many humans around. It was kind of a joke now, sort of showing my appreciation for the fact that he did not throw alpha commands out left and right like Sam had.

"I am surprised you are not protecting your boyfriend from the welcoming committee." So Jake had known about it but had not deemed it worthy to warn me - the jerk. I resisted the urge to glare at him, that would only encourage him in the future.

"He is a big boy and can take care of himself." Ignoring the boyfriend comment, I looked around at the people around us. Someone had brought out a radio and was blasting some gangster music across the yard. "Thanks for warning me about the little party," I continued, my voice thick with sarcasm.

"How was I supposed to warn you? I never see you anymore." Jake gave his happy laugh. It still amazed me how much different he had become since imprinting. Too bad it could not happen to me, though I would rather it not be to a bloodsucker.

I felt something large move behind me, he smelt like citrus and sage. "I keep thinking I should just give her a key to the place." He said in is deep rumbly voice, the man could still make me shiver just with that voice.

"Why bother since you never lock it?" I retorted looking over my shoulder with a quick smile for him.

I made quick introductions, I was somewhat surprised that Phil had never met Jake before - well there was that one time but Phil was too busy throwing up to notice. I had been trying extra hard to try to separate my wolf life from my time with Phil.

The strangest thing happened when I introduced Phil and Jill Maples, my normally happy and friendly Phil gave her a cool and quick nod. Not that she seemed to be keen on furthering their acquaintance.

Paul interrupted the awkward moment, he started to talk to Jake about some tribal matters. Like Jake actually cared about that crap, I could tell he was as confused as I was by Paul's behavior.

"Hey you want to help me serve the food I brought?" Phil put a hand on my elbow as he gave me the dimple smile, the one I had a hard time resisting.

"Sure why not? Maybe we can find something to eat in the meantime." I told him, leaving Paul and Jake to their conversation.

"All right Princess, let the games begin." Phil's comment was the barest of whispers in my ear, looking over to see what he had meant I was greeted with a small smile. I was starting to get worried, what was Phil up to?

The foil covered trays contained pulled pork that could be made into sandwiches, he had baked fresh rolls and had even brought some of his homemade barbecue sauce. I loved the stuff, even if it was a little spicy.

For dessert he had brought some apple crisp. "Screw the hotdogs, I am eating this."

I had better be quick about it too. The wolves had scented meat and were circling.

Phil noticed they were coming too. I watched as Paul having finished with his important discussion with Jake started heading our way.

"Here use this one instead" Phil said switching the jar of sauce in my hand. I did not understand what he was doing but I did not care, all of Phil's cooking was good. I was in the middle of dousing my meat with the sauce when Paul finally stopped in front of us.

"Is that for me? How nice Leah." he said as he grabbed the plate of food out of my hand.

"Careful the sauce can be a little spicy." Phil warned. He turned away from Paul to look down at me, and gave me a wink. I was so busy wondering what Phil was up to that I did not have time to be annoyed with Paul.

Paul seemed a little disappointed with my reaction, or lack of it, so he gave me a smirk and shoved half of the sandwich into his mouth. I watched as a few seconds later his eyes got huge and he started choking.

Sam, our host, finally decided to grace us with his presence and he had stopped by us to see what the problem was.

"I told you it could get a little spicy, maybe I should go get some ketchup for you." Phil said in a concerned voice. I tried really really hard not to laugh, but I could not help myself. Paul's face was a bright red, if it was not for the fact that he was a wolf it might have concerned me.

The combination of Phil's comment and me laughing is all it took to push Paul over the edge.

I watched as Paul's hands started to shake and he took a step towards Phil. "Hey Sam, you might want to put a leash on your boy there." Before I had even finished the sentence Sam had grabbed hold of Paul's upper arm and was trying to tell him to simmer down. But Paul was being uncooperative, as usual the moron could not control his temper.

Eventually Sam gave up and used an alpha command, Paul had no choice but to comply. I almost felt sorry for Paul, but not really - he is the one who had started this. Sam led Paul away but not before looking back and giving a dirty at Phil's direction.

"What did you do?" I asked Phil who was casually finishing off the sandwich Paul had abandoned.

"What do you mean?" he asked too innocently. He could not fool me, I knew that tone of voice, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Are you trying to get killed?" Now that Paul was gone the humor of the situation came back to me but I pushed down the laughter, trying to keep a straight face while reprimanding Phil. It took all my willpower not to laugh, Paul had been all amused that he had managed to take away the sandwich I had made but seconds later he looked like he was in pain - karma is a bitch, as the old saying went. Though in this case I was starting to think it was more Phil than karma that was dolling out the pain.

"It does not seem to be an issue, looks like Sam knows how to muzzle his party guests." Phil noted as he assembled another sandwich. I noticed he had switched sauce jars again.

"What was in that sauce?" I said reaching for the jar, he was smart enough not to stop me. I tried some of the sauce, it was a little bit too spicy for me but not that bad.

"I made it myself especially for tonight, it has a little bit more kick than usual. Made specifically for your special friends." Phil put extra emphasis on the special friends, he was not going for the frontal attack but that is what this was nonetheless - he was being my white knight and attacking my enemies. I rolled my eyes at the though, maybe Phil just liked being a prankster.

I looked up at Phil's profile, he had turned away from me and was looking towards the part of the woods where Paul and Sam had disappeared. He was concentrating a little too hard, almost like he was trying to figure something out.

"Should I be worried about a laxative in the dessert?" I asked him both worried about my apple crisp and Phil's curiosity.

He quickly looked away from the woods and his eyes swept the crowd in front of us, "looks like your brother is trying to get your attention."

"You have got to be kidding me! What did you do to the dessert?" I was not going to be distracted.

"I have to admit I thought about it, but that would ruin the dessert, and I for one am not going to waste food." He looked back at me with a smile.

"You are such a jerk, in this place that might get your ass kicked," he did not look bothered by that fact. Something clicked in my mind, Phil had known what he was doing when pushing Paul's buttons. The crazy man did not act overly concerned about the fact that Paul had tried to jump at him, it was almost like he was expecting Paul to be upset - the problem was that Phil did not know who he was dealing with.

I might have not completely approved of his methods, and maybe was a little fearful of his safety but I helped him serve up the food. The special sauce may have found it's way into the sandwiches of some of the wolves from Sam's pack that had annoyed me. It was kind of funny, especially when I made a point to eat my sandwich. I could see exactly what was going through their heads, if a girl could do it they would too.

Phil was of course very polite to everyone, even when they were deliberately being rude to him. The others did not know him well enough to notice Phil's smile did not quite reach his eyes. These people were not his friends, but then everyone especially the wolves all make tried their best to exclude him as much as possible. They kept mentioning topics and people that Phil would know nothing about. I guess they realized intimidation would not work on Phil, they were going for making him feel excluded. I was trying to make up for it by standing closer and closer to Phil; at one point I had an arm around his waist while leaning into him. This seemed to bother the wolves so I kept it up, Phil noticed too and put his arm around my shoulder. It should have felt awkward but it felt natural - I was leaning on him, but at the same time he was leaning on me.

I saw Emily walking through the crowd and talking to everyone, she was smart enough not to come to where Phil and I were standing. Jake's sister came to talk to us for a while, she was polite but a little cautious. I guess there were too many secrets to protect, I knew both Jake and Sam disapproved of me spending this much time with a human that would have been known by the mates as well. They thought the more time I spent with him the higher the chances of me letting something slip.

Jake and Seth noticed what Sam's pack was doing to Phil and much to my gratitude intervened. Most everyone had eaten and people were just sitting around talking now. So my pack challenged Phil to a game of poker. I knew they had been playing with Emmett and Jasper, in other words learning how to cheat. I should probably have warned Phil but he was smart enough to figure it out.

"Come on Phil, you up for a little game?" Jake teased pulling out a deck of cards.

"What are you playing?" Phil asked with a small smile.

"Poker." Jake quickly listed the rules. Phil agreed and they sat down at a half empty table. Quil and Embry joined us at the table. It was somewhat of a pleasant surprise how quickly my pack was ready to stand up for me and my friend.

I sat next to Phil, not wanting to join in the game, but not ready to leave Phil alone yet. I trusted my pack to watch my back, I did not trust them not to try to embarrass me in some way if I left them with Phil. It was at the third game that Jake suggested betting a little money. While Phil was distracted gathering up the cards to deal the next round, I glared at Jake but all he did was give me a big smile.

I watched Phil shuffle the cards, he really did have graceful fingers. He knew how to handle the cards, I thought about it for a moment, Jake and the pack did not stand a chance against him. Seriously they were going to be creamed by Phil, I had never met anyone who was as good at hiding his emotions. With poker it was all about keeping everything inside, the boys were screwed.

Feeling confident in Phil's abilities I wandered off to get a refill on my drink. All that was left was diet coke, which I refused to drink. I headed into the kitchen to get some water instead. I had to push my way through several people in my way, it was a good thing that I had wolf strength.

"Hey Leah nice of you to actually join us, what we are not good enough for you?" An annoying voice cut stopped me in my tracks.

"Oh hey Paul are you all right, I am sorry you could not handle a little bit of spice," I have to admit I was feeling a little smug. I had truly enjoyed the look of Paul's face when he had taken a big bite of my sandwich. I smiled at the memory, I was not going to let Paul ruin my good mood.

Paul was trying to think of a quick rejoinder but he had been the one to get burned on our last encounter. The fact that Phil's personality leaned more towards the playful had become obvious early on, but I had not realized until now that he was l was such a trickster. Maybe I should go outside after and warn the boys.

They would learn quick enough, instead after getting some water to drink I went to talk to Kim. I remember her from school, she had seemed nice enough even if she was a little quiet.

"Hi Kim, how is it going?" I said finally locating her sitting off in a quiet corner. She seemed a little shocked that I was talking to her. It might have been because I had a smile on my face.

"Oh hi Leah, I am good, how are you?" She replied in a small voice. She was looking around, my guess she wanted Jared to come protect her. I gave up on the conversation pretty quickly, she was too afraid to actually speak to me.

My bladder had other concerns as well. I tried the downstairs bathroom but of course it was occupied. I had been to Sam's house enough times to know the way to the upstairs bathroom. Fortunately for me only one person was ahead of me in line.

Even then by the time it was my turn to I had to cross my legs. I practically pushed the person in front of me out of the way as I rushed into the bathroom. I muttered an apology as I ran inside and slammed the door shut.

There was only a small amount of toilet paper left once I finished, so after washing my hands I reached under the sink to get some more.

I was just pulling out a few extra rolls that Sam's mother kept under the sink when I knocked something over. I picked up the large bottle of pills, I was about to put the bottle back inside the when I looked at the label.

At first I was confused but then I was shocked. Who the hell would take prenatal vitamins. Then I figured it out, Emily was pregnant?

I fell to my knees. I don't know how long I sat there just staring at the bottle of pills in my hand. I felt myself go under the dark wave as bitterness engulfed me, all my progress from the past month was lost in just a few seconds.

* * *

A/N: I promise to put up the next part very soon, sorry about the harsh ending it was just getting too long.

Twilighter: I am starting to feel like this is something illicit. Oh well, all fun and games until someone imprints :D. I am glad you like the new rule. It seems to be working out, except for my laundry. It apparently does not fold itself (stupid laundry). By the way I had to cut back on this chapter, I was looking at over 15,000 words. But I promise to get the next one out soon.

Toshii519: I think and this is just me that SM's Leah thought that imprinting was her way out, and unfortunately for her I am too mean to let it be that easy - it will make her a better person and have better relationships. She should have noticed about the snaps of the bra but you know how things are, the human mind is really good at denial.

Mss animegoddess: Phil would like to tell you that he is not "Philly bear", and he can be really mean when necessary. You do not want to see his game face, just kidding he really is a big teddy bear.


	12. Party for One

11- Party for One

I don't know how long I sat there staring at the bottle in my hand. I heard the knocking at the door and someone calling my name, but my mind could not seem to concentrate on that. Instead it was occupied with the agonizing image of Emily pregnant with Sam's child. It should really not have bothered me, I knew in my mind that Sam would never be mine again; but my heart had not gotten the memo.

I was a little shocked when someone kneeled down next to me and wrapped their arms around me, without thinking I turned in the embrace leaned into his shoulder to cry.

"Shhhh Princess, don't cry, everything is fine." He muttered soothing words into my hair as I soaked his shirt with my tears. This was starting to be a habit of ours.

I don't know how long I stood there sobbing but I did manage to get his shirt really wet.

"Sorry," I mumbled into his shirt when I had composed myself a little.

"All right, I think it is time for us to get out of here. So are we going out the door or the window?" His tone was absolutely serious. I laughed a little, Phil was crazy sometimes; but he did know how to make me feel better.

"I would suggest the window," he pointed at it, "you have been monopolizing the bathroom for far too long. There are some pretty unhappy partygoers out there wanting a piece of you."

"Oh sure the window," I said wondering how he would fit his shoulders through the narrow opening.

He slowly pried my hands off the bottle of pills I was holding. "Let us just leave this for the next person."

Had someone stopped and asked me what the hell I was doing it would have been hard to come up with a logical explanation. But thinking is not what I was doing at this point in time, instead I was sneaking out of the Uley's upstairs bathroom via the window. Phil helped me out the window first, I could have been wrong but his not so helpful push on my ass felt more like a grope. Fortunately for us there was a tree close by so none of the people below us saw what we were doing. I might have been able to point out that it was the man who followed me out the window's crazy ass plan. I would have thought he would get stuck with his broad shoulders, but he did some sort of twisting trick and out he slipped. My bad little Phil knew how to get out of tight spots, I suspected he had not always been so good.

It did not take us long to make our escape, we stuck to the shadows and soon we were in Phil's truck driving away from everything.

"Where to Princess?" Phil asked after a few minutes.

"I don't care as long as it is away from here." Crying on Phil's shoulder had helped a little but it did not change the reality glaring at me. I was a complete moron. I had not even realized this until now, but somehow a glimmer of hope had remained deep inside me. In my delusion I had seen a future where everything would be all right and Sam would leave Emily to come back to me. The fact that she was pregnant had killed that last little hope, I had nothing left.

I looked out the window of the truck as Phil took another turn with more speed than I would have liked, but for all his crazy driving I have never seen him lose control. The clouds had stayed away and for the first time in weeks I could see the stars. I snorted under my breath.

"What is so funny?" Phil asked, his voice quiet and soothing.

"I thought about making a wish on a star but with my luck these days it would get completely messed up." I could hear the bitterness in my voice, it had been absent most of the time for over a month now. I did not like what I was becoming again. I would allow myself this for tonight. _But tomorrow Leah you are getting your act together, you are going to apply to any school that might possibly take you and get the heck out of dodge._

"What would you wish for?" Phil interrupted my plans.

"I would wish to find someone and ..."_to imprint_. I finished in my mind, that would be a good plan, no more Phil as a placeholder. No more hoping this was all a bad dream and Sam would leave Emily. I was going to go find the real thing.

"Fall in love?" Phil did not understand, how could he? He knew nothing about wolves. "I don't think that would solve your problems."

"Sure it would," imprinting would solve _all_ my problems.

"But then what would you do with yourself?" Phil continued, determined to explain to me that falling in love would not solve anything. We were going to have to disagree on this point.

"What do you mean?" Imprinting would mean I no longer cared about Sam being in love with another woman, I could be happy, as happy as Jake.

"How do you expect someone to love you when you have not figured out who you are yet?" Phil asked in a quiet voice.

I looked back at the stars and did not answer. Phil's questions were starting to be too hard, "I liked you better as a prankster."

Phil made a noise of displeasure before he started playing around with the radio. It took him a while to find something that he liked.

I concentrated on the music so I would not think about what was behind me, I did not want to think about how quickly my feeble defenses failed at the slightest adversity. I could face down a newborn army but I could not stand the thought of Sam and Emily starting a family together. I was glad they had not set a wedding date yet, how would I sit through the ceremony? The song was a faster ballad, I did not understand the words. If I had to guess I would say it was French. Phil had a varied taste in music, he was humming along tunelessly.

"Do you know what she is singing?" I asked him trying to distract myself.

"Rough translation: I return your love," he said after a moment of thought.

"That is sweet," I made gagging sounds. I know it was immature but it was that or cry; I did not need to hear about love right now. Plus I think Phil's shirt was already soaked.

"No, not sweet." He shook his head. "I return your love as in I give it back to you, I don't want it."

"Must be nice to have that option," I was starting to sound like an old woman, the bitterness making my voice harsh.

"So you want to talk about it?" Phil said after a while. I did not answer instead I continued to look at the stars. The clouds were moving in again, blocking some of them out. The sunshine was over, the weather matched my mood.

We were getting close to the cabin, almost to the turnoff. Phil slammed on the brakes and moved his arm across my chest pushing me back into the seat. All of a sudden a deer crossed the road.

"Wow that was close", I had not noticed the deer, it was a good thing Phil was paying attention. He had some really good eyes, the deer was almost invisible in the growing twilight.

"Yeah that was a surprise", he sounded somewhat annoyed, more than surprised. "Are you all right?"

"You can let go now", I pointed to his arm, he still had it across my chest.

He gave me a dimpled smile and finally removed his arm, the truck sped up again. You would think that nearly hitting a deer would have caused him to drive a little slower but apparently that was not the case.

"Thanks for getting me out of that bathroom. How did you know I was there?" I would thank him quickly and get it out of the way.

"Maybe I was just trying to find the bathroom and happened to find you instead." It should have been an easy enough explanation but something told me he was lying to me. Had he been looking for me? making sure I was all right?

I did not say anything as he parked the car. Getting out of the truck on autopilot I headed through the unlocked front door and turned off the alarm. I really had spent far too much time in this house, it was starting to feel like I lived here. I was not going to worry about that tonight, there was something I needed to do first. Moving to the kitchen, I began to implement my plan.

"Are you hungry?" He seemed confused as he watched me search the cabinets. I guess he could not figure out my desperation as I dug around in the cupboards.

"Is there anything in particular you are looking for?" He was hovering, trying to figure out what the emergency was.

"Something alcoholic, preferably with lots of alcohol." I opened one cabinet door all I saw were strange pots, more plates, tupperware. "Where do you keep it?"

I was kneeling down to look in the very back of a corner cabinet when I hear a clink of glasses. I looked over my shoulder to see Phil placing two shot glasses on the counter.

"I am assuming you are going for drunken oblivion and not a wine tasting expedition." It was not a question so I did not see the need to try and formulate an answer. I could hear the strong disapproval in his voice.

"I don't need any crap from you right now." My words almost a growl. "I most certainly do not need a daddy."

"Got it, all you need is for me to provide alcohol to a minor. I am guessing if I say no you will probably go and try to find alcohol in another place." He sounded more resigned now, but I could still see the censure in his eyes.

"You of all people know I am willing to throw myself at strangers." I narrowed my eyes at him, I had a plan and he was not going to stop me.

I watched as he went to the pantry, and pulled out a bottle of some sort. So that is where he had been hiding the stuff.

The bottle was clear just like the liquid inside of it. It was short and squat looking, and did not look like it contained enough alcohol to satisfy my current needs. It had a little cork stopper and a green ribbon.

"Get the salt Leah", hmmm he was calling me Leah. He never called me by my first name, only Princess.

I went to the spice cabinet to get the salt, he was cutting up some limes into wedges.

I sat on the stool across form him watching him with great concentration. My experience with alcohol usually involved the parties I would go to with Sam. That constituted a bunch of teenagers sitting around drinking crappy beer that one of their older friends was able to obtain for them. There were the drinking games I had seen in movies and such but I had never paid too much attention to it.

"Do you know how to do this?" He asked giving me a doubtful look.

"I have seen it on TV, it does not take a rocket scientist to know how to do shots." I told him stubbornly, I felt like sticking my tongue out at him. But that might take away from the mature demeanor I was going for.

"Right," he said drawing out the word. Both this face and tone reeking of disapprobation. "Salt, shot, then lime."

"What is that?" I don't know why I bothered to asking, this was not something I had ever done before.

"Lucky for you it is the good stuff, Silver Patron." I looked confused, he gave me a look filled with censure before he explained, "this is tequila. About one shot of this and you should be drunk."

I scoffed, that is not possible, at least it would not be with my werewolf genes.

"You are native american Leah, your liver is more than likely low on or missing certain enzymes which makes you a really cheap drunk. Now watch me do it." He licked the inside of his thumb, put salt on it. I mimicked Phil's move but most of my salt fell off, obviously this was not Phil's first time.

"You can use a lime to do that," Phil said expertly, watching me mess up something even this simple. "Before I forget, call your mother to tell her you will be out all night."

I was about to protest, at nineteen years old I should not have to call my mother. Regrettably my mother would worry and then I would feel guilty for making her lose sleep - there had been enough of that in the past few months. It was nearly ten at night I had better call soon before she went to bed. The phone call was surprisingly short, I guess my mother heard something in the tone of my voice that caused her not to question my weak excuse for staying with Phil.

Phil showed me the sequence of drinking tequila once more, this time the salt managed to stay on. Proud of myself I decided to just go for it, and took the shot.

Immediately I began to cough. "Oh my god", I could feel the sting as it went down to my stomach. I sucked on the lime wedge but it did not seem to help much.

Phil did not say anything as he refilled both our glasses. I watched as he expertly tossed another shot down his throat, completely unfazed by the strong alcohol.

I followed his example, this time it did not sting as much. I stopped counting after five shots, my head was getting a little dizzy. But that was all right, I could not not think. That had been my goal for tonight, not being able to think.

"Is there a particular reason you were desperately clutching a bottle of medication?" Phil said out of the blue, he had paused in his bartender duties. My mind was getting kind of numb.

"It was not just any medication, it was prenatal vitamins." I pointed out the obvious.

"What is so wrong about prenatal vitamins?" His tone seemed amused, was he laughing at me?

"Obviously Emily is pregnant." I pushed my glass closer to him, trying to indicate that I needed another one. He looked down to where my glass was tapping the bottle but he did not give me a refill. "By the way, you suck as a bartender," it would have been a better insult had I not slurred most of the words.

"So what if she is?" Phil asked unconcerned.

That is when I broke down and told him my entire pathetic sob story. How Sam left me, how he picked Emily instead, my daddy died, and how I had stopped having periods. I would have probably told him all about the werewolf thing if I could have, fortunately Sam's alpha orders not to tell anyone about it were still in effect.

I lay with my head on my folded arms, I was really dizzy now that I had told him everything I could. The rest of the night was kind of fuzzy. I do remember Phil moving me at one point into a bed and helping me get out of my clothes.

"Sleep well, Princess," he said, I could feel his breath followed by his lips against my forehead. My last thoughts were filled with relief over the fact that he was calling me Princess again and then I knew nothing.

_I was walking in the woods, I could not seem to find the way. I was getting more and more upset because no matter where I ran I would end up in the same place over and over again. There was nothing special about the place, just a couple of trees with a path cutting through it._

_This place seemed familiar though, like there was something I should remember about it, my mind felt too groggy to figure it out. I was getting frustrated, I called out for help. It was then that I heard movement through the underbrush._

_Something was coming at me._

_I looked up to see three vampires staring at me, two were female and one was male. They looked somewhat familiar. Their ill fitting clothes seemed made me think I should know them from somewhere, but you can bet your ass I knew the face of every leech I had ever run into. It would be strange to recognize them, since every one that we had met had been killed by my pack._

"_Are you inviting us for lunch?" one of the males asked in his perfect vampire voice._

_I don't know why but I fell down to the ground, my legs could not longer support my weight._

_I was lying there when a woman moved above me, she was not one of the vampires. This one was human, her light green eyes attested to that fact. She had a pretty round face, brown hair with streaks of blonde. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a fleece jacket, her clothes were much higher quality than the vampires ones had been - it also helped that they were the right size._

"_She is kind of cute," she was looking down at me with a friendly smile. "Well we should probably put your clothes back on...Uh oh, I think she is waking up a little."_

_She seemed nice, I tried to warn her about the vampires but my tongue was too heavy in my mouth to speak. It felt like waves of warmth started to hit my entire body, I could not keep my eyes open. Before the waves fully overtook me I heard a distinct sound, one that I could immediately recognize, the sound of a vampire being broken into pieces._

* * *

I woke up to bright lights and the worst pounding headache I had ever experienced. My mouth felt like it was filled with cotton balls, and my tongue was too big. Groaning I rolled over in the bed, pulling a pillow over my head hoping to block out some of the light. That was kind of hard in a house filled with walls of glass.

I could hear Phil humming tunelessly under his breath as he typed away at a computer downstairs. Each key stroke was like a jackhammer to the brain, too bad he was such a fast typer. I briefly considered going downstairs and breaking his fingers, but that would require me moving and I was not ready to do that.

I lay on the bed in agony for a few minutes but my stomach told me I no longer had the luxury of staying in bed. I jumped up and ran for the bathroom, barely making it to the toilet in time.

The noises I was making must have alerted Phil to the fact that I was awake, I could hear him behind me as I retched into the toilet. After it looked like my stomach and possibly my small intestines were completely devoid of any substance I pushed sweaty chunks hair out of my face. Phil was standing at the door to the bathroom with a glass of something brown and unidentifiable.

"Morning sunshine," he said with a huge smile.

I flipped him the bird. But I ruined whatever dignity I may have had left by turning back to the toilet and evidently I had not emptied everything just yet. Phil's face appeared with a neutral expression as he squatted down right next to me, his hand appeared with a couple of white pills.

"What is this?" I asked him suspiciously, swallowing did not seem like such a good plan. Maybe I would avoid doing that, for like the next year or so.

"Ibuprofen for your headache, I can't give you acetaminophen because unfortunately for you it is metabolized in your liver. And your liver is not very happy this morning." He told me in a too cheerful voice, it was starting to grate on my nerves. I looked at the pills he had put in my hand, while he went to the sink to fill a glass with water.

I swallowed the pills, since they promised the possibility of some relief. Miraculously they stayed down, but I was not about to press my luck so I sat down next to the toilet and put my head back against the cabinet.

"All right Princess now for the fun stuff," Phil's voice sounded tinged with anticipation. I smelt something horrible, and opened my eyes to see him presenting me with the glass full of brown goopy stuff.

"I am not drinking that nasty glob," I told him, tired from all the barfing I had done my voice came out a little weak.

"Trust me it will make you feel better." He tried to persuade me. "Between the two of us who has done more drinking?"

"What is in it?" I asked suspiciously, that thing looked and smelled just foul. It made me want to throw up again just thinking about having to drink it.

"You don't want to know. Secret family recipe." Mr Happy Sunshine said. For a moment I pictured punching him so hard he would fly across the room. I seemed to have very prominent fantasies of causing this man bodily harm at this time, but he was being far too cheerful this godawful morning.

I drank the stuff, gagging much of the way. I tried my best not to smell it, though I failed miserably. I had thought vampires smelled bad but this was much worse. I don't know why I drank the stuff, probably just to get him to leave me alone. Maybe this was retribution for when I was trying to force him to drink the water when he had that migraine.

He disappeared to get me a toothbrush and some extra clothes, so that I could take a shower. It was not until I was under the hot spray that I remembered I had not been wearing any pants when I woke up. I don't know what was worse the thought of him undressing me, or the fact that I wore the super sexy granny whites. Then I remembered my breakdown the night before, the underwear was nothing compared to that. Had I really told him that I no longer had a period? My face got so warm with embarrassment I would probably get a first degree burn.

Getting out of the shower I considered crawling back into bed, would he notice if I never left the room? There were two other bedrooms in this house, maybe they could just slide in some food a few times a week.

I was a lot of things but I was not a coward, so I sighed heavily once and headed downstairs.

Phil was puttering around in the kitchen, washing some dishes. "Do you want anything to eat?"

I shook my head but then realized the drugs had not kicked in yet. "I am so not drinking again," I groaned sitting carefully down on a stool so as not to move my head more than necessary.

"Well that was easy enough, here I thought I was going to have to whip out with some Trent Reznor." Phil was just asking to be punched.

"Trent who?" I said not lifting my head from the counter.

"You don't know who Trent Reznor is?" He seemed genuinely shocked. "Oh yeah I forgot I was dealing with an infant."

"At least I don't have one foot in the grave, old man." Surprisingly I was feeling better, so long as I did not move around too much. I don't know if it was the brown glob stuff, the medication or the wolf genes but my stomach was no longer doing flips in my abdomen. My head still felt like a miniature marching band was stomping their way across the inside of my skull. I sighed again, "ah about last night, sorry about crying all over you and then for going on and on about Sam, and my dad, and about Emily being pregnant." I might as well get the apology over with. Then I realized what I had just said. "Oh my god, I can't believe Emily is pregnant."

"You know that is not necessarily true," Phil started to say. I could hear him adding some water to the kettle, it made a distinct sound when the water hit the metal bottom.

"What other reason would there be for her to take prenatal vitamins?" I interrupted him, considering lifting my head but deciding I was not ready to risk that yet. Phil was just going to have to get used to talking to the top of my head this morning.

"Some people think the vitamins make your hair and nails stronger. You did mention she was engaged, she might want to look extra nice. It won't really do much more than conventional vitamins, but reason does not always come into play when a woman is planning her big day." I could hear the disdain in his voice when he said "big day".

That comment reminded me of something he had said earlier, and I latched onto that since I did not want to talk about Emily. "What did you mean about the aceto stuff."

"Acetaminophen?" he clarified.

"Yeah that stuff," I risked raising my head to give him a suspicious look. Then I remembered what he said last night, "and what do you mean about native americans missing something from their liver."

"Acetaminophen is what you call Tylenol." He answered my question, but at the same time revealed nothing - typical Phil.

"And I don't want to take it because I am native american and it can hurt my liver?" I was getting confused.

"No you don't want to take it because you already hurt your liver by drinking and so adding Tylenol would only increase the assault on your liver. You have to give it some time to recover. But then it should be fine for you to take." His tone was emotionless, like he was giving a lecture, it might have been my imagination but I thought I heard a little censure in there.

"So what you are telling me is that there is a change that Emily is not pregnant." My brain finally caught up with what he had said earlier.

"There is a chance that she is, but I am saying is that just because there is prenatal vitamins in that household does not mean that she is. Someone could be anemic and prenatals have higher than normal iron content." As he explained small dots were starting to get connected in my brain but my head still hurt too much for me to see the big picture.

"So my complete and utter breakdown is for nothing." I said with disgust.

"Not nothing, it taught you not to jump to conclusions and more importantly it taught you why you should not drink." Phil seemed determined for me to learn that lesson.

He did not need to keep bringing it up, I was not going to drink any time soon.

"Why does it bother you so much, the thought of Emily being pregnant?" Phil said after a pause, he had poured the boiling water into a mixing bowl filled with what looked like oatmeal.

"Duh, she has the life I want." I blurted out without thinking about it, I looked up to see if he had noticed what I said.

"You want to be pregnant?" He stopped stirring and looked at me with a shock written all over his face.

It was impossible not to laugh, but then I groaned again. It was not good to laugh when your head hurt. "No not right now, but eventually I would want to be."

"Just because you are no longer menstruating does not mean you are infertile." Phil seemed relieved and went back to cooking.

"What would you know about it?" It was not like he had to worry about periods and things like that.

"There are lots of reasons for your period to stop; reasons that can be easily fixed. The most common reason for amenorrhea is of course pregnacy."

"Nope, I can assure you I am not pregnant," I interrupted before he could go on. That had been my worry as well when my periods first stopped, but soon it became apparent it was because of the wolf thing. Amenorrhea was the technical name for no periods, I knew that because I had looked it up - what surprised me was that Phil knew that word.

"Barring pregnancy the second most common reason is stress and low body fat." Phil continued like I had not said anything. "You have to admit you are on the skinny side and you have been under a great deal of stress lately."

"What if there are other reasons?" I asked, what I could not ask is what if it was because of the wolf genes.

"I could get you pregnant if that is what you wanted," Phil paused for a moment as he went over what he had said. His face turned red under his dark skin. "All right that did not come out right."

"Yeah thanks doctor," I said sarcastically trying to block the mental picture of Phil helping me make a baby. _We could go for that_, my libido pointed out. "I will make sure to call you up if I ever have the need."

"Infertility is not my field of specialty," he muttered, I could see he was still embarrassed. It was nice to have someone else open mouth and insert foot, usually I was the one that did that.

"Wait, what do you mean your field of specialty, you mean you are a doctor?" Though it made sense, he was really smart and well educated. "If you tell me you are a psychologist I will kill you right here."

"No not a psychologist, anyway psychologists are Ph D's and I am an MD." He reached for some raisins to add to the concoction.

"So what is your field of specialty, Doctor Nelson?" I wanted to know he had not been the shrink messing with my head. Was I some sort of experiment for him?

"Boobs and butts," he said with a smirk. "Plastic surgery," he clarified after I gave him a confused look.

"You mean to tell me you are a plastic surgeon from LA? Oh my god can you get any more cliche than that?" I laughed again but this time I was a little more careful, I had my headache to consider.

He laughed with me, "now you are going to have to stop hanging out with me."

"Yeah, I have a reputation that could be ruined if this got out." We spent a few minutes laughing quietly together, I was asking him stupid questions about his profession. He did not answer most of them citing patient confidentiality as an excuse. It took me a while to figure out that I was back in the light again, not in that deep hole of depression.

"All right that is enough laughing at my expense, I have a question for you, and before you rip my head off please consider it. What exactly do you see in Sam? Why do you love him?" It was his turn to look bewildered.

"Because he is Sam, my Sam. Do you have to have a reason why you fall in love?" Despite his vast knowledge, here was one topic I had a great deal of experience in.

"So are you in love with your Sam, or the real boy that is now engaged to your cousin? Because it sounds as if you like the idea of being in love more than you like the actual man." He was clearly not understanding what I was talking about.

"That is not true, sounds like you have never been in love." I flaunted my superior experience.

"What makes you think I have never been in love?" He asked quietly, I would not have been able to hear him had I been human.

"Well then tell me what reason did you have to love her?" A little tweak of jealousy sprang up in my chest. Phil did not seem to be the type of guy that fell in love, he was too self contained. He did not need anyone and if I was being honest it kind of hurt that this man's heart already belonged to someone else.

He paused for a minute, thinking. "I love her for many reasons. There is her strength, her stubbornness, her absolute need to control everything and how much it bothers her when things are out of her hands, but most of all I love the woman she can potentially be." He had a faraway look in his face, I might as well not have been here, he certainly was somewhere else. With someone else - _whoever that bitch is, she is going down._ All right I have no idea where that came from.

"So did you actually tell her this?" I have to admit I was curious as to what had happened with this woman, that little bit of jealousy had become bigger.

"I told her I loved her, but she did not notice." He shrugged, I could not tell if he was this good of an actor or if it truly did not bother him.

"How does someone not notice when you tell them you love them?" He probably used the male lingo, told her she was wearing nice shoes or something along those lines.

"She was distracted at the time. So I ask again why do you love Sam?" He seemed determined for me to answer this question.

I thought about it for a minute. "We shared hopes and dreams together, we were going to go to school and come back to help the tribe. We planned our entire life together." It still hurt to talk about all that I lost, but I needed Phil to understand.

"Sounds like you miss the dreams more than you miss the actual man." Phil pointed out as he slid a bowl of oatmeal in front of me. He brought some milk from the fridge and set it down next to my bowl.

I did not say anything as I ate my breakfast and considered what Phil had said. It was true I was more enthusiastic about the plans for the future than Sam was, he had been more willing to go with the flow than I was. That did not mean I did not love him. That did not mean I missed the dreams more than the man, did it?

* * *

A/N: All right one step back but two steps forward. I think Leah did well this chapter - oh yeah and Phil is a saint. See I posted quickly so as to not leave you all in suspense.

ABarbieStory: Yeah Phil was telling her the truth about his age, but you are right on the wording; there is a lot of wiggle room in there. You need not have worried, Phil found her and took care of her - Leah did not have to run away. The mysterious duo will make themselves known to Leah...eventually, so have a little patience with me.

Ms animegoddess: Glad you liked it where the last one was cut off. This chapter was a lot smaller, but I think Leah made a great deal of progress.

Twilighter: Was this update soon enough for you? Yeah, yeah about the forbidden fruit, it always is more fun. Thanks for the compliment, I have to admit this is much more fun than the other stuff I was trying to get done today.

Toshii519: One day Leah's time will come, but she has to kind of saw off the ties she still has to Sam - I will tell you now it will not be as simple as imprinting on some guy - that would be way to easy and not at all fun.


	13. Memories

12 - Memories

I was back to normal by the time Phil drove me home, the nausea was completely gone and all that was left of the headache was a little twinge at the back of my head. After waking up this morning, well closer to this afternoon, it was starting to be a mystery to that alcoholism was a problem in the world. No matter how good drinking made you feel, it was not worth the price the next morning.

_ It might have helped for you to start a little slower the first time. _Drinking shots of tequila might not be the best way to begin.

My physical discomforts alleviated I was able to concentrate on all the complications that I had been avoiding - the other thing about drinking, when you sober up all your problems are still there. I sat in the truck next to a silent Phil, staring out at the passing trees but not really focusing on anything. I would almost have taken the headache over trying to sort out my thoughts.

As much as I would like to, there was no way I could ignore Phil's question. He was an intelligent man, obviously since he was a freaking doctor, but beyond that he was amazingly observant - to the point that I would have sworn he knew about me being a wolf. _But he has not run for the hills, so that means he has not figure it all out, yet._ All that was beside the point, Phil wanted to know why I loved Sam.

Some might wonder why I would bother, why go through the torture but then they did not know Phil. I had spent nearly two months with Phil, and this was the first time he had asked a direct question regarding my turbulent relationship with Sam. If Phil thought it was important enough to ask it might behove me to try to find out the answer.

For most people remembering their first love should bring back a sense of nostalgia and innocence, but for me those memories would be forever tainted by the way it all ended. It was a painful process thinking back to my time with Sam, but as much as it it hurt I needed to find the answer to Phil's question - if only for myself.

There were several reasons for me to search for an answer: the most superficial was that I needed proof of my love, something that I could rub into Phil's face to show my true devotion to Sam. How do you separate out the emotions? All my memories of Sam were clouded by a haze of feelings that ran the gauntlet from love to hate, at times a mixture of both. But I needed to force myself to do this, there was no other way I could sort through the tangled mess around my heart and soul. This was another reason to figure it all out, in order to truly be able to leave the reservation I had to find a way to come to terms with my past - otherwise I would have to spend the rest of my life carrying the baggage of Sam's betrayal.

Even though we had both grown up on the reservation Sam and I did not really hang out, our parents associated with different people and we did not have any friends in common. It was not until I was a Freshman in high school that he actually talked to me, it had been a major ego boost having a Junior notice me. At the time I was somewhat shy, the attention of an "older" more mature man had been flattering. It was not until later that I had come to realize that Sam was actually a very nice guy. I could only use the fact that I was fifteen as an excuse, the typical self absorbed teenager.

Our relationship had grown from it being cool to hang out with a Junior to something more serious. I remember my mother telling me to take things slowly, I was too young. But I had been determined to grow up, I was an adult I would have adult relationships. My mother could not tell me who to love or how much to love them.

I laughed a little at myself now, it was not a happy sound. As stupid as this sounded, I should have listened to my mother. For a moment I wondered how many times someone had thought that exact same thing throughout history. Probably a lot.

At the time it was easy to look down on my friends and their constant switching of boyfriends, they had nothing that could even come close to my relationship with Sam. I was the one they came to for advice, and I was not shy about giving out my sage opinions. In retrospect I hoped the damage done by my words was minimal, I knew nothing about breakups or heartache, hell at this point I was starting to admit to myself that I knew nothing about relationships.

I had not felt superior when Sam had left me, my friends had not tried to give me the same crap advice I had given them. I guess they had learned how worthless my words actually were. I quickly bypasses the memory of what I had done when Sam had first left me, I did not want to think about that. I moved back in time instead, to when everything in my world was perfect.

I can't exactly remember when Sam and I started thinking of our future together, we just sort of started talking about it.

"Where do you want to live when we grow up?" I asked him one day. He was getting ready to graduate high school, I wanted to know his plans, so that I could make my own.

I was getting frustrated with him for not thinking of the future, he seemed happy with just letting things go on as they had been. He had been helping one of the shops on the Rez, being a trail guide. Sam had always enjoyed being outdoors, that was where he had been the happiest. I eventually pinned him down and made him formulate a plan. It had been a simple one, go to college to get a degree in forestry or something along those lines then he would come back here to the tribe. I could see him as a forest ranger, and there were enough national forests in the region for him to have a great deal of job security. I had been very pleased with him for coming up with such a brilliant plan. He had even had a scholarship which he was forced to turn down when he changed into a werewolf.

In retrospect it seemed I should have given a little more thought as to why it had taken him so long to decide on a career path. I should have examined how he was reacting to the pressure I had placed on him to decide. In my defense, I was barely seventeen at the time.

I noticed that we were getting close to the house. It had been a little longer ride than usual, Phil seemed to be taking his time for once. I don't know why he decided today was the day he was going to obey the speed limit but I was grateful for the quiet time. I also appreciate him not trying to force a conversation.

We were just pulling up the driveway when I remembered something crucial - my mother. I would have to explain to her where I was for the past twenty four hours. I saw the curtains flick on the living room window, my mother was waiting for me. I did not like the deep frown on my mother's face. Maybe I should have spent some time of the ride thinking of a good excuse, there was no way I could ever admit the truth to her. Not if I valued my or Phil's life.

My mother came to stand on the front porch before Phil had even shut down the engine on the truck. Her arms were crossed across her chest, her glower seemed to be increasing in intensity. Oh crap, did she somehow use her mother powers and figure out what I had been doing last night? Had Phil betrayed me? He had been angry with me last night, but I doubt he had been upset enough for him to tattle to my mother.

I spent a few moments being a coward, and trying to think of an excuse as to why I was coming home in the middle of the afternoon. I was not even wearing my own clothes, this really did not look good. I had not considered having to deal with my mother and I floundered around for an explanation. One that did not involve telling my mother I got drunk as a skunk last night, and woke up with the worst of all hangovers sometime in the middle of the afternoon.

Phil got out before me, I watched my mother's gaze go from mine to his. As much as I enjoyed having my mother's attention being drawn away from me it was unfair to Phil. I was not the nicest of people but I would deal with the consequences of my own actions - plus I happened to like Phil, and I would not want to sic my mom on my worst enemy, she could be really scary.

I sighed and reluctantly opened the door to the truck, "Hi mom." I tried to smile but I do not think I did a very good job of it.

"Leah," my mother may have just said my name out loud but I heard the rest of the message: _you are in so much trouble young lady, now get into the house so that I can begin tearing you apart_. I noticed she was still engaged in a staring contest with Phil.

I looked at Phil as I walked past him, no one I knew with the possible exception of the vampires could wipe their faces as clear of all things as well as Phil. Last night at the party I watched him as he interacted with members of my tribe, I got the impression that he did not actually feel the emotions his face was projecting - I had seen his real smile directed at me, and it was disconcerting to see him fake it for everyone else.

Facing my angry mother again I walked towards the house, in my peripheral vision it looked like Phil shook his head - one small movements indicating 'no' but when I looked over my shoulder he was as motionless as a vampire, still holding my mother's gaze. Did Phil have a death wish? Had he just tried to tell my mother what to do? It must have been a figment of my imagination.

I stopped next to my mother on the porch, my steps were slow and measured as my mind refused to work. I may have snuck out with Sam a time or two but I was never gone this long and back then the excuse was planned out before I came home. The worse part of it was that I knew I deserved it, I guess I would just have to listen to the lecture that was coming. Please, please let her not know about the fact that I was drunk last night.

"One second Leah," I heard Phil say, I watched as he moved towards the back of his truck. He reached in to get a box of some sort out of the bed of his truck. I had not seem him put that in there before we left.

"This is for you." He walked up and handed me the box. "Have a nice evening. Mrs Clearwater. Leah." There he went again, fake smile for my mother, real smile for me.

He got in the truck without saying another word, my mother and I watched silently as he drove away.

"What is in the box?" My mother asked suspiciously. I guess I had her full attention now. _Oh goodie._

"Never mind," she said curtly, "get in the house Leah."

The speed with which I followed her in the house had nothing to do with how heavy the box was, it had everything to do with how reluctant I was to hear the lecture. I calculated my chances of survival if she figured out I had gotten drunk last night. I was wondering if it was too much to ask for another newborn army right now. Just a small one would be nice, I would prefer them to having to talk to my mother.

"Leah do you have any idea what you are telling some man when you spend the night at his house? Do you want to be seen as easy? What others will say?" She started off her lecture with no warning as soon as I stepped into the house.

I put the box down on the coffee table and looked at her confused. Of all the things my mother would have said I have to admit this was not one of them.I guess I had been too busy thinking she had found out about my drinking to remember that I had spent the night with Phil, this time I did not have the excuse that he was sick. After a moment I realized this was a good thing, I could defend myself against this accusation.

"Look mom, I have no idea why everyone seems to think Phil is my boyfriend. You, Jake, and even Sam keep harping on and on about the subject. We are just not like that, Phil is _not_ my boyfriend. He is a friend, that is all. There should be no worries about that part, he has never once treated me like a potential girlfriend. He does not strike me as a shy type of man, so it is not that he is reluctant to ask me out." I took a deep breath before I continued my tirade, "I am not ready to date some guy, I need to figure out what I am going to do with myself before I throw a man into the chaos that is my life."

My speech seemed to take some of the steam out of my mother's prepared lecture. "So what is it that you do at his house all day long?"

"I don't know, stuff. He is trying to teach me to cook, that is not going well. We go hiking around the woods together, though we had kind of stopped doing that recently. He might just be getting cold, since he is totally obsessed with keeping me warm. I have a table set up to work on my beads in his study. While I work on that he reads stuff on his computer and mutters to himself." I realized I was rambling but the word vomit just kept on coming. I needed to reassure my mother that I was not having sex with Phil. _Though if he offered I don't know if I would say no._ All right it was not the time to be thinking like that.

I could not tell my mother I was still a virgin, that would have been a lie. So I stuck to the truth instead, leaving out a few details she did not need to know about. "We do not cuddle on the couch watching TV together, I don't think either one of us could stop fidgeting long enough to actually enjoy it. We don't go on dates, no movies or dinners at a fancy restaurant or even dancing. We just hang out, mostly discussing weird things like Thomas Hardy and why his books make you want to commit suicide. Our relationship is completely platonic, the only time he has ever touched me was when I cried all over his shirt." Oh crap, my mother did not need to know about that part.

"I see," my mother interrupted my rant, but it sounded more like a question than a statement. My mother looked taken aback by my long speech, she searched the room and her eyes found the box Phil had handed to me. "What is that then?" She asked, repeating her earlier question.

"Well I think it is a little bit too big to be a ring," I told mother with a straight face. Based on her expression she did not find my joke amusing. "Honestly, I have no idea. It smells like paper. Not food."

"You sound like your brother. All you think about is your stomach." My mother laughed at me as she joined me in looking down at the box. It was not a moving cardboard box, it looked more like one of those boxes with a lid that people used to store their office supplies in.

"You try being a teenage werewolf and see where your priorities lie." I might have to thank Phil for providing the box as a distraction, it had partially helped avert a major lecture. Though the night was still young, my mother could go on about my sluttish ways as soon as we figured out what was in the box.

"Well open it." She commanded, I could tell she was wanting to it herself, but was holding back since he had handed it over to me.

Reaching for the lid I suddenly paused, was this something I could open in front of my mother? I hope Phil had not given me something naughty, I could see him giving me a strange gift as a practical joke. He had handed it to me while my mother was watching, so it should be all right. I tried to reassure myself with the thought that spent far too much energy cultivating a relationship with mother to ruin it for a joke. Feeling a little better about it, I lifted the lid. Inside the box was a pile of labeled and stamped manila envelopes. To say I was confused was an understatement.

"Does he expect you to take his mail to the post office?" My mother sounded as baffled as I was.

I picked one of them up to examine it more closely. The return address was mine, I did not recognize the mailing address. It was not sealed so I opened it up to see what was inside. It took me a few seconds to read the printed words and recognize what I was holding in my hand.

"Oh it is a college application." My mother said as she read over my shoulder. I pulled out more and more envelopes. They all had college applications inside with the appropriately stamped and addressed envelopes. He had gone even so far as to clip a money order to the papers if an application fee was required.

"I guess someone has been a busy boy." I told my mother. I did not know what else to say.

I finally found a note:

_I thought this would help you get started,_

_Best of luck P._

It was kind of hard to make out the writing, his penmanship was horrible, the jokes I had heard about doctors having illegible writing had some basis in truth. This might be the reason all the address labels were printed and not handwritten.

"Wow," my mother it seemed had been rendered speechless. I did not blame her, I too was a little blown away - I speculated how much time it took for him to get all these together. He could not have done this only in one morning. It was flattering that he would invest this much time in my future, especially since he liked to remind me of the fact that he would not be around for it.

"I guess he is determined for you to go to college," I could hear the awe in her voice. She too must be calculating how much this took.

"Being a doctor and all might make him be a big supporter of education," I said looking her in the eye.

My mother made a face, so she had known he was a doctor. I wonder why he had told her and not me. "Yes of course. I will go finish making dinner," she said backing away from me and the box.

I spent what was left of the afternoon filing out application after application while my mother puttered around in the kitchen. This is how my brother found me when he came home - envelopes scattered all around the living room.

"What the hell is this?" he asked without even saying hello.

"I heard that Seth, watch your mouth young man." My mother called from the kitchen.

"I swear, sometimes I suspect she has werewolf hearing," Seth muttered under his breath.

I tried not to laugh as I finished writing out my name and address yet again. I was starting to get a cramp in my hand. This was going to take longer than I had anticipated.

"Go wash your hands, dinner is almost ready," mother said peeking out of the kitchen.

Getting up I nearly toppled over with pain, "damn it." I had been sitting on one leg and it had managed to gall asleep, Seth watched laughing as I hopped around the living room on one foot while I worked out the pain. Finally able to use both feet I looked around the room to see what I had accomplished.

I had ink stains all over my fingers but I had tackled a large portion of the pile of envelopes. The hard part was not over yet, some of the more elaborate ones required essays. Something about life goals and crap like that. I did not think getting away from my ex boyfriend was a good theme for an essay, I would have to think of something cheesy enough to satisfy them.

"Thanks Seth," I told him as he walked around and helped me put the scattered envelopes back in the box. He really was the nicest person on the planet, he had inherited that trait from my father.

"Wow sis you want to go to Berkley?" He said looking at the envelope in his hand.

I has been too busy to read all the labels properly, after a while it had become a blur of filling out my name, address, and the same personal information.

"Give that to me." I grabbed the envelope he was looking at. Apparently Phil thought it might be a good plan for me to apply to Berkley. I thought of tossing this one into the trash, there was no way in the world I would ever get in. If I thought about it California might be nice, the sunny state. Too sunny for vampires, that was always a bonus point in my book. I carefully placed the Berkley application on top of the others in the box.

My mother did not say anything as we all ate our dinner together. She had made a baked fish, potatoes and a green salad. The fish was good, I was wondering if I should ask her about the recipe, I might have to try it one day. Or have Phil teach me how to bake it.

"Thanks mom for the food, I got some homework to finish," Seth said as he finished inhaling the meal. He took his plate to the sink rinsed it and disappeared into his room. I could hear music blaring from his small stereo.

"With all that has gone on for the past couple of months sometimes I forget about the mundane things, like reminding him to do his homework." Mother's gaze swung from the door to Seth's bedroom back to me. "Speaking of things I should remind you of. Leah, are you going to call Phil to thank him for what he did?"

"Yeah I guess I should call," I admitted reluctantly. I was not ready to talk to Phil quite yet, I did not know the answer to the question he had asked.

"You have no idea how lucky you are that he is such a nice man," Mother commented mostly to herself, "I wonder why he is doing it?"

"Why did he tell you he was doing it?" I asked her, he must have told her something to convince her not get all freaked out about her daughter spending that much time with a stranger.

She made another face, seeming reluctant to reveal his reasons but after a moment of thought she spoke quietly. "He told me that at one point in his life he was in a worse spot than you are, and he had someone that was there to give him a little boost. He could not repay the person but he could do for someone else what was done for him."

"So I am a charity case? Great." I was getting annoyed, I did not want to be pitied.

"Does he treat you like that? Like a charity case?" She asked all of a sudden a sudden spark in her eyes.

"No, he might harass me about things but when it comes down to it Phil treats me with respect." I was trying to appease my mother with something because I could not yet define what we were. On one hand I counted him among my friends, actually at this point he was my only friend - as far as the non-supernatural world was concerned I knew Phil had my back. He would support me not matter what I wanted to do. Phil was determined to teach me how to survive on my own, I was surprised he had not made me prove I could change a flat tire. When I wanted to try something truly stupid he did not try to stop me but instead let me learn from my mistakes, sort of like this morning with my hangover.

I could understand my mother's fears, he was a healthy man and I was a younger girl who had been recently totally fucked over in the relationship department. However Phil had never made any sexual overtures towards me, while he was affectionate it was more of a friendly tone rather than that of a lover - there might have been moments in time when I wanted to jump his bones, I would like you to find me a girl who would not consider it. Phil was smart, funny, and considerate; on top of all that there was his amazing ass and those killer dimples. So yeah I might have had a tiny crush on Phil, but that did not mean I was going to act on it, especially since he had never given me any encouragement.

"Leah what is that?" my mom interrupted my thoughts.

I looked down to see that while I had been daydreaming about Phil my fingers had on their own started to play with the bracelet he had given me. "Oh this? Phil gave it to me." I answered her, my mind still on trying to figure out where to put Phil.

"Why is he giving you jewelry?" her voice was filled with suspicion.

"Oh, no reason. I think when he left town he promised me a surprise when he came back." I lifted my wrist to show my mother, "it is really not a big deal, he says he picked out the flowers. Honestly I don't think they really go together."

"No they don't, you would think the sales girl would have said something to him," my mother agreed with a giggle.

"Yeah, but you know what mom? The customer is always right." I repeated her old mantra back at her.

* * *

I tried calling Phil after helping my mother wash the dinner dishes. He did not pick up his house phone or the cell phone number. I was somewhat relieved not having to talk to him.

For about an hour after heading to bed I wasted my time tossing and turning while sleep eluded me. The insomnia might have been the fact that I had slept past noon, but it was mainly the plethora of things floating around in my head.

Last night had been horrible, and I had fallen down into that darkness again but it was much easier to get out of it a second time. Today might have started with paying homage to the porcelain gods but it ended with a great feeling of accomplishment. One promise to myself had been fulfilled, I had started to look for a college. The path that would lead me away from this bitter woman I had become in the past few months was visible and I had taken the several steps in the right direction.

Thinking back this journey started when I had hopped on the back of the bike with Phil; he gave me the first opportunity to decide for myself, the first step towards the journey away from here. I could not stay angry with Phil, even if he was doing this for charity he was still a good friend. He could have forcibly pushed me down this path towards the light. Instead, he pointed me in the right direction and let me take my stumbling route towards it.

If it was not for his heartbeat I would have almost made thought he was a psychic like Alice, alway anticipating my needs. He could have just told me to get over myself from the beginning and went on his merry way. I got the impression that Phil normally was a pushy man, it was a great compliment that he had taken his time to allow me to walk down the path with only a little bit of nudging. I was by no means at the light at the end of the tunnel, but I could see a hint of it somewhere on the horizon. I hoped it would live up to the promise of the light.

A huge block in my road was the situation with Sam. There was one question I had considered a thousand times. What would have happened had the vampires not come back to Forks? Every time in the past I had always assumed that Sam would still be with me, we would be in college together by now. Maybe there might be some wedding plans, but nothing concrete as of yet.

Today my answer was less certain, why had I been in love with Sam? Was it because he was an older boy paying attention to me? Did I really know anything about him or had I pushed my own expectations onto him. It was hard to assimilate the possibility that Sam was not the person I thought he was; I tried to see him as a person and not the teenage fantasy I had created. You should judge a person by their deeds - or so the saying went. So to see Sam's character it would be best to see how he had behaved.

One situation stood out glaringly in my memory. When Jake went to check on Bella after she came back from the honeymoon the pack was waiting for him to see what had happened. I could clearly remember everyone's reaction when Jake had come back to tell us the story of Bella being pregnant with a leech's kid. Sam was determined to destroy the unknown child and did not care if he had to take Bella with it; he had immediately given the order to attack, without even considering any other option. The rest of the pack members had not put up any resistance to Sam's orders, they just went along with the plan. Some of them even had thought of it as a game, thinking of pitting their strength against that of the vampires.

Jake had resisted Sam's orders not because it was the right thing to do but because he was willing to protect Bella at any cost. Sam's reaction had not been pretty, he had tried to use more of his alpha power over Jake. What kind of a leader does that to his own people? Had Jake not been the true alpha Sam could have completely broken Jake's spirit, if not his mind. As soon as Jake had resisted and my brother left with him a plan began to formulate in my mind, I am ashamed to admit I thought of only myself. The need to get away from Sam was all that mattered.

When I looked back at that moment in time I saw that out of the entire pack Seth had been the only one who had acted with the modicum of though and consideration. He did the right thing for the right reasons; he left with Jake because he was going to protect a family. They might have been a vampire family, but that did not matter to Seth.

The new Sam I was seeing without the skewed view of my teenage dreams was somewhat scary, he was not the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. For the first time I was starting to think that there was a benefit to the vampires coming to Forks. How long would I have remained oblivious to his true character? If he was willing to do that to members of the pack, what would he have done to his wife if she went against him?

Fear was starting to creep into my lungs, making it harder to catch my breath. I was undressed and halfway out my window before my mind registered my actions. My room was getting too small for my thoughts, I needed to be under the sky, I could not stand being in this confined space any longer.

I was almost down to the tree line before I considered my mother. I was turning over a new leaf, I was going to start thinking before I acted. I ran back to the house and quickly jotted a note for my mother telling her I needed to go for a run. I promised to be back before we had to leave for work in the morning.

The smell of frost permeated the air as I headed south through the forest, I wondered who was on patrol tonight. I could not hear the other wolves, it would not matter, I was the fastest and could outrun any of them. I felt a smirk on my wolf face as I picked up speed, it really bothered them that I was the fastest among both packs. I found a small waterfall where a stream was cascading over some rocks and lapped up some of the water. I chuckled just thinking of Phil freaking out that I was drinking the water from a stream. _Yeah Leah he would be freaking out over you drinking the water, not the fact that you are a six foot tall werewolf._

After I had satisfied my thirst I sat down on a large flat boulder, laying my head on my front paws. I continued my thoughts about Sam, I thought about him a great deal so this was not an unusual occurrence. The tone of my thoughts was what made this different.

Sam had not always had an easy life, he had never said anything outright but I had the impression his father was abusive. I was not sure if there had been any physical abuse involved but there had definitely been verbal abuse. It was one of those things that everyone suspected but no one did something about; people had been too afraid of his father. It had always amazed me how nice and caring Sam had turned out, especially in comparison with his father.

I had looked up some things over abused children, to see if there was anything I could do to help Sam. There was one fact that I had glossed over, it had not held my interest back then. It had not been that important at the time but now it was more relevant; abused children sometimes have a hard time communicating with others. Sam's communication skill when he had gotten stressed in the past few months had deteriorated to bullying - like father, like son.

_You are just being judgmental, you are trying your best to dislike him_. But I have to admit some part of it was true. Sam was just human, he had his faults as well as his strengths. He had been put in the unenviable position of leading a pack of werewolves in a time of major conflict. He was doing the best he could, it was not his fault he was not equipped for the job. It was almost better that he had imprinted on Emily, because of the imprinting he would not be capable of pushing her around.

Suddenly a strange noise came from above, I lifted my head in the direction of the sound but nothing was there. I had the funny feeling that something was watching me, I had begun to listen to this voice more in the past few months. There was something about being dunked into the supernatural world that made you think twice about the other things. How did I know that the only things existed were werewolves and vampires? I didn't, there could be other things as well. Witches and ghosts. Hell at this point it would not surprise me to see a flying saucer hovering above the cliffs.

I stood up and went to look but could see nothing, I could smell nothing. The sound had come from a really tall tree, I was not going to be able to climb it in wolf form and I could see nothing there to warrant me trying to climb it naked.

Creeped out by the incident I figured now was a good time to head home.

* * *

_"What are you retarded or something? She could have seen you?" the man furiously whispered to the woman next to him._

_ "Duh, invisible here, how can she have seen me?" the woman rolled her eyes at him. "You are far to paranoid about this, you need to relax a little. You know ..." she made a gesture with her hands to explain to him exactly what he should do to relief some stress. "Though with as wound up as you are, you are probably running the risk of going blind."_

_ "I can push you out of this tree, there is no one around to here you." The man replied before jumping. An outside observer would have been concerned at the man just flinging himself off of a large tree. About a foot from the ground he seemed to stop, float for a few seconds before gently taking a step from midair down to the ground. The woman was almost instantly next to him, using the same method to descend from the tree._

_ "Are you going to see her home?" she asked looking in the direction the wolf had gone._

_ The man followed her gaze, his pale green eyes reflecting too much of the dim light to be human. "I will follow her anywhere."_

* * *

A/N: All right ladies, sorry I was slacking, but I have houseguest right now. AKA had to clean the house so that it was presentable. Eeek, I was having trouble uploading this chapter. Obviously I finally got it. I hate it when fanfic website is not working properly.

TifffersStar1989: Glad you liked the chapter, Phil is very subtle in his actions and he tends to handle Leah with kid gloves. She thinks that he is secretive but he has pretty much told her a great deal, he just used a language that he knew she would not understand. Yeah the spicy sauce was pretty funny, especially since he tainted yummy food (I think that would be the ultimate sin among wolves).

Ms animegoddess: She made even more progress, I know that Bella thought Sam was great and all in the books, but really he was a bully to me. I so would have put Seth in charge as soon as possible. Though that is biased on my part because I happen to adore Jailbait aka Seth. Emily pregnant? We shall see :D.

ABarbieStory: Glad you are liking the small bits. I added a little bit more at the end, just cause you like the hints. Yes, yes, Phil is awesome and we all want to take him home so that we can insert scene that is too much for even M rating here.

Twilgihter: :( Hello?. Joking, I hope everything is cool. So I am a worrywart.


	14. Suspects

13 - Suspects

Phil's question along with my own newfound uncertainties kept floating around in my mind that morning at work, making me a little more distracted than usual. It got so bad my mother finally asked me what was wrong.

I started to ask her if she thought I really loved Sam, but changed my mind. Did I really want to know? "Nothing is wrong, I had a hard time falling asleep last night," I told her some of the truth. I had made it home before she had woken up and had destroyed the note, she did not need to know about my nighttime run.

I steered clear of Phil for the next couple of days, well mainly I was avoiding his question - I worked some more on my applications, the ones I finished were sent off in the mail. Jake and the rest of our little pack must have noticed the leaning of my thoughts but for once they chose not to pry. I kept searching for my Sam through my memories, unfortunately all I kept finding was a boy who while was an all right sort of person did not resemble the Sam I had built in my mind. It was hard to admit the possibility of being completely wrong about the man I thought I loved, there was no way in hell I could ever be able to say it out loud. Maybe admitting it to myself would be enough for me to move on.

I was sitting in the living room after dinner trying to examine all my memories of Sam, things looked completely different now that I was no longer projecting my own dreams and wants onto Sam. Could it really be this simple, all I had to do is admit I was wrong about my feeling and I could restart the building of my dreams? The castle was starting to form in my mind, but I did not want to go as extravagant as I had last time. Maybe the cottage I had been eyeing a few weeks ago was a good idea.

I did call Phil to tell him I was busy trying to apply to college. He seemed pleased that I was finally getting ready. He accepted the excuse and offered up his services if I needed someone to proofread my essays. While admitting that the essays were giving me a hard time I asked for a a little time politely taking a raincheck on his offer of help.

Before I got off the phone with him I had to ask about the trip he had taken out of town, it was bothering me. I could not figure out what kind of emergency a plastic surgeon could possibly have that took him out of town for a week. "What was it, emergency liposuction?" I should have probably been more kind, especially with all he had done to help me, but it was not to harass Phil about his job. It also helped that Phil was one of the most confident people I had ever met and my teasing would not harm his ego in any way.

"Not exactly," he said, going back to the Phil I was used to, the one that never told me a thing.

"What are you being secretive about now? Do you have a wife and kids you are supposed to visit ever once in a while?" I asked only half jokingly. That would make things a little more awkward, not that anything had happened.

He paused for such a long time I though the connection had failed except I heard his breathing on the other side.

"I do certain things to help people, others don't always approve of what I do. There have been some threats, so I don't talk about what I do for safety reasons." His explanation was quiet and sounded rehearsed. He had been asked this question before.

"Oh there you go being mysterious again," I said getting frustrated.

"Not mysterious this time, just cautious." He said, I could hear the smile in his voice.

"How exactly does a plastic surgeon piss someone off?" I could not picture one scenario where this could happen. "Botched boob job?"

"If you were to hurt someone to teach them a lesson, how would you feel about the doctor that came in and reversed the damage?" He asked leaving it at that. I could tell he would not speak on the subject any more.

Phil called me on Friday saying he had an emergency and had to go out of town for a few days. I ran more patrols than normal, I was still going back through the memories and needed the distraction. This time I did not worry that I would lose my cabin haven, I worried about the man who was staying there. What was he doing? Was he really in danger?

_He is probably just faking it._ _How could a plastic surgeon really make someone angry? People go to him because they want to, not because of anything else_. Jake did not take it seriously, but he was still pissed off at Phil. As I had suspected Phil had not fallen for any of Jake's tricks during the poker game and had managed to clean them out. That little voice in the back of my head pointed out that Phil was not the type of guy that was prone to exaggeration - I continued to worry.

Phil was gone the week of Thanksgiving, so it was only family and Charlie for dinner. This was our first holiday without my father, it was always at the strangest times that I would get a pang in the vicinity of my heart and feel the tears start to pool in my eyes.

For me the worst moment was when my mother put the turkey on the table and we all looked at it. Finally Charlie had taken up the task, very reluctantly I might add, of carving the turkey.

"We should have asked Phil to come, he could have made it look good." Seth joked, yes it had been a major joke that Phil was a plastic surgeon. Everyone all of a sudden became a stand up comedian - I could see why Phil did not want to tell people.

We all laughed at my expense but I could tell no one's heart was in it. My mother excused herself from the table and walked out of the house. It took her a good fifteen minutes to come back, we did not ask where she had gone. It was obvious that she had been crying, there was nothing to say.

I can't believe how shallow and selfish I had been not to notice how much my mother missed her husband. I had seen her attempts to hide behind work as no feelings instead of her method of coping.

The day after Thanksgiving I had nothing better to do so I reluctantly went over to see the Cullens with Jake. I did owe them a thanks for helping out when Phil got really sick.

Jake was excited, he wanted to show off how cute and wonderful his mate was, and he had caught me in a melancholy mood so I had accepted. I knew how much Nessie had changed over the past few weeks, Jake's thoughts had centered around her during our patrols. Carlisle the doctor had determined with certainty that her aging process was slowing down, but the worry on Jake's mind was that she wasn't slowing down fast enough.

We drove up in Jake's small volkswagen. The Cullen's house always amazed me, it had such understated grandeur, unlike it's owners who were absolutely over the top gorgeous - in a creepy vampire sort of way that is. It was a sunny day so everyone in the family was around, Carlisle had not gone to work today. They were outside teaching Nessie how to kick a ball, she was doing it gracefully despite the mary-jane leather shoes and long pink frothy dress she was wearing. The pink should have clashed with her auburn hair but instead the pale pink complimented her skin tone.

Rosalie was taking pictures, I guess they wanted to make sure she would have a photo album of growing up. They were preparing her to blend in with the human world, and having faked their way through it for the past hundred years or so they knew what to do.

"Nessie!" Jake yelled as soon as he parked the car, he was out even before the engine had fully stopped. He ran over and picked her up in a big hug. Two months ago I would have made some sort of comment about pedophiles. I had come a long way that I was able to bite my tongue.

Bella came over to say hello to me, her eyes were still the freakish red but I could see the steady diet of animal blood was diluting it out somewhat.

She was still scared of me, she did not trust Jake when he said I would not harm them. Bella was a smart girl, I tolerated them, but barely - they were not my best friends. _You might be indebted to them over Sam, maybe you would not have figured it out. You might have been stuck in a marriage with a man you did not even know. _The inner voice was always pesky but I was not mature enough to listen to it yet, yep I still hated the Cullens.

I had hated this girl in front of me when she was human, that feeling had not changed when she had been turned into a bloodsucker. But I could see why Jake had liked her, she tried too hard to please everyone around her. Sometimes to her own detriment, I really hated pushovers.

Alice heaved a sigh and mumbled something under her breath, I guess she disliked being blind and when we were around her visions tended to fade out.

Carlisle and Esme greeted me from a distance but they did not come close, as freakish as this sounded I think they were trying to be polite. I know what would be more polite, setting themselves on fire. I thought with dark humor.

I heard Edward cough, I always forgot about the mindreader. He was busy rifling through my thoughts, so he must have heard my joke. I would rather he stay out of my head, so I used the same strategy as on the boys from the pack. I had learned well from being part the pack mentality. Thinking about my period was out of the question, I mean blood and a vampire would not mix well. Instead I thought about Phil's ass and how nice it had looked in jeans, especially when he bent over. I thought about how nice his fingers were and pictured what I would like for him to do with those.

For a minute I thought I was just embarrassing myself but then I saw Edward cringe. _Bullseye_. That would teach the leech to stay out of my head.

"What is wrong Edward?" Bella asked concerned, her need to try to be friendly with wolf girl was forgotten. He just shook his head at her, she looked back at me and narrowed her eyes. I tried my best to look innocent while picturing unbuttoning Phil's shirt. Nessie laughed effectively distracting Bella. Vampires had absolutely no attention spans, I would have to remember that for future use.

Sitting down on the hood of the car I looked around uncertainly, wondering what the heck I was doing here; other than I had nothing better to do. _So instead you thought hanging out with vampires would be all that much better?_

My college applications had been filled out and sent off. Once I wrote a set of essays for one of the school application I had been able to recycle it for almost all the others. The sheer amount of writing that I had had to do was not really mentally strenuous. I quickly figured out the pattern of the questions. So all it cost me was severe cramps in my writing hand and ink stains all over my fingers.

Now all I had to do was wait very impatiently for their replies, or more likely their denial letters. I really like the variability of programs at the University of Washington, but I did not think they would take me mid-year. It would also put me close enough to the Rez that if anything happened I could come back quickly to help. I could always apply next spring, there was no rule that I knew of to prevent me from reapplying. I was slowly finding new dreams, I did not need Sam to get my teaching degree, I could do it all by myself.

Speaking of dreams I remembered my strange one, the one with the green eyed woman and the three vampires. There was something that was bothering me about it, something that I could not put my finger on. It kept evading me, every time I tried to think about the details the memory slipped and became fuzzy. It was almost like I could remember it best when I was not concentrating.

I don't know why I was so determined to remember this dream, I had much stranger dreams in the past few weeks. But something about this one had stuck with me.

I heard a gasp, I looked up to see Edward staring at me with worry in his eyes. "You saw those vampires in a dream?" He asked in a strange voice.

"It was just a dream, no big deal. Stay out of my head." I warned him with a growl.

"Alice saw those exact vampires coming through this region, but they never showed up. They just disappeared from her visions." Edward clarified. This got everyone's full attention.

"What is going on Edward?" Bella interrupted with a worried tone. Edward moved to his wife and put his arms around her but he did not look away from me. His face had rearranged itself to a look of utter concentration. I knew what he was doing, he was trying to see what he could find in my mind.

"Do you mean they exist?" I asked trying to catch up to the fact that Alice had seen these vampires. That must mean they exist, but then why did I know what they looked like and not remember meeting them. You would think I would remember meeting three red eyed leeches.

"How did you meet them?" Edward ask in a biting tone, not bothering to answer my question.

"I don't know, I have only dreamed of them." I was bothered by this strange detail enough that I did not snap at him for giving me an order. Instead I concentrated on remembering. The few details I had were lost again in a blur.

"How would you know what they look like if it was only a dream? Tell me exactly what you can remember, I need to you concentrate, I need you to think." Edward growled at me coming closer.

"I can't!" I yelled at him, getting angry and frustrated but mostly at myself. How could I not remember it?

It took a bit of arguing and a lot of growling but the story finally put itself together. Phil and I had gone hiking. Somehow, and I could not remember this part well, I fell asleep and saw the vampires. That was the first time. The second time was the night I was really drunk and that was when I saw the green eyes woman as well as the three leeches.

"It could not have happened, in my dream I remember phasing, my clothes ripping apart, when I woke up all my clothes were intact. Unless my clothes magically were put together again." I attempted to joke about it, but I was starting to be a little tense. Why the fuck could I not remember?

"Are you sure you were wearing the same clothes?" Jake asked me. I gave him a dirty look, I was a girl of course I would have noticed if I was wearing different clothes.

When Alice's vision of the three had not come true they had assumed the group had gone a different route. Now we were being a little more suspicious.

It was Rosalie that noted that I had been around Phil during both dreams. She wanted to go question him, right now. I was very relieved that I could tell her he was out of town. She did not look like she was in the mood for Phil's quirky humor, and I did not want his blood on my hands right about now.

Jake had called the rest of our pack, it was nice that he included everyone in the decision. One point for Jake, zero for Sam.

Seth had been quiet since he had come with Quil and Embry. Now he spoke up, "I see two possibilities here. One is that Phil was the one who did something to the vampires and erased Leah's memory. The other is something else was there in the woods that day. I would go with the second option, Leah did see a strange woman."

"We have to know, we need to question him." This was said by Jasper, he was their tactical warrior guy. Carlisle seemed reluctant to agree.

"What if he is something that can take on three vampires at a time, do we really want to mess with someone like that? He has never threatened any of us. In fact if Leah's dream is accurate he saved her life." Seth argued his point. I smiled for the first time since Edward recognized the leeches, my little brother would defend his worst enemy. But he had a very valid point, we would have to approach this carefully.

In the end we all reluctantly agreed on a plan. We would try to pursue this thing with Phil, but we would not take him head on. It was decided there was a chance that he was human and it would not be to his benefit to be immersed in the vampire and werewolf world. I would go talk to him and casually bring up my dream, and Edward would make sure he was in the vicinity to see what Phil's thoughts would be about the matter.

In the meantime one of the vampires or wolves would watch his house, to see if there was anything funny going on. I was surprised it had taken this long for my supernatural life to collide with my human one, still I was not pleased at the prospect.

* * *

Phil called a few days later to tell me he had come back, he invited me over with promises of food. I knew he was home, Esme had called me to inform me of this last night. I hated the feelings of mistrust that had suddenly come up to mar my friendship. I called the Cullens and Jake to let them know that I was headed over to Phil's house. Edward offered to drive me at least part of the way but I declined his offer, citing the need to keep this a secret from Sam. It had been a unanimous decision to keep Sam and his pack out of this. The main reason was Sam, he was such a "kill first, ask questions later" type of man it would not be in anyone's best interest to share our suspicions with him.

It felt kind of strange to be plotting with the leeches but as much as I hated to admit this, they were more willing to put themselves in possible danger to protect Phil. Sam would not have accepted the small risk. All except Rosalie, she was for the 'pummel him until he tells us all' plan, but Carlisle had quickly implored her to stop. It was hard not to compare how Carlisle treated his family to how Sam treated his pack. I had to keep telling myself Carlisle had four hundred years more experience.

So here I was taking my super cool bike to Phil's house. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Edward and Jake had promised to meet me close to the cabin. I smelled both of them as soon as I turned onto the long driveway, geez I always forgot how much leeches stunk.

"Remember Leah, be subtle. Don't just blurt it out." I heard Jake from a bush. Good thing they were here, how would I have ever survived without such sage advice?

"If he suspects anything just leave, I do not think he would hurt me." I said in a whisper. I was pretty sure of this, Phil had gone out of his way to be nice to me. I did not know how he would feel about Jake and Edward spying on him.

Jake did not answer but I knew he would never leave me alone, stupid honorable idiot that he was.

I paused at the front door and considered knocking. That would be suspicious, I never knocked anymore. I found Phil in the kitchen, chopping up what smelled like chocolate.

"Hi princess, could you grab the cocoa from the pantry for me?" He said by way of greeting, the dimples were out in full force. No man with dimples like that could be evil.

"Hi," I said lamely. This trying not to act suspicious was making me nervous, and I was acting super suspicious. I sat down on a stool across from him after setting the box of cocoa down next to his bowl. I could smell dinner in the oven, it was going to be pasta with peas and some sort of bacon.

"What's wrong? Hey are you all right?" He said putting down the knife and looking up at me.

"Nothing, just a little tired." This seemed like a good lead in, "I have not been sleeping well, I keep having these strange dreams."

"That is not uncommon, if you are sleep deprived you will have more vivid dreams. Happens all the time with recovering alcoholics." He had picked up his knife again, and was moving the chocolate bits from the cutting board into his bowl.

I watched as he measured and sifted out some cocoa to add to the mixture. "So are you calling me an alcoholic?"

He laughed at me. "There is something called REM rebound. If you are not sleeping well your brain does not get to dream. It really wants to dream, so when you finally do sleep it will result in you spending a larger chunk of you sleep in a dream state. For this reason people report more vivid dreams."

"Don't you want to know about my dream doctor?" I asked partially joking, partially desperate. His attempts to diagnose my problem were far from helpful.

"I am not that sort of doctor, but if you wish I could call someone. One of my cousins has a very nice comfy couch where you can sit down and discuss your dreams of trains going through tunnels." There seemed to be a joke I seemed to be missing here.

"Huh? I don't understand nerd talk? My dreams don't have trains in them." This was not going where I wanted it to.

"It is a joke, one that apparently you did not understand. Call me after you take introduction to psychology, if you still don't understand at that point I will explain it to you. But go ahead lay down on the couch and tell me about your dream. I think I can fake an Austrian accent. I can even speak a little german for you. _Zwie Bier, bitte_." I watched as he poured hot water over his chocolate and cocoa concoction melting the two together.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked confused.

"Two beers, please." He laughed, "I know all the important phrases."

"Yeah, I can tell," I could not help but laugh, as he intended for me to. _Right Leah, focus, focus on getting him to think about your dream_. "You know you are in my dream."

"Oh now we are getting somewhere, were we ice skating together?" He asked with a little too much enthusiasm. I so was going to have to figure out what the heck he was talking about.

"No, we were walking in the woods when we met some strangers and invited them to lunch. Then I remember this green eyed woman leaning over me. The weird thing is I have never met those people before." Okay that was not subtle but he had been messing with my plan. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"You seriously want me to interpret that dream. You walking in the forest and meeting some strangers?" He looked really confused.

"No, I was just talking, don't mind me." I felt like a total fool, but I had to ask one more question. "You don't remember meeting anyone when we went hiking?"

"No not really, why do you ask?" He looked more concerned than confused now.

"Never mind. What are you doing?" I had tried my best, I only hoped Edward had acquired the information he needed.

"Making a german chocolate cake with coconut and pecans." He wagged his eyebrows at me, his mood going back to his abnormal happy state.

"Oh, when will it be done?" My mouth was watering at the prospect.

"Sorry Princess, not tonight. I have to let the pudding filling cool in the fridge overnight." I watched as he set the chocolate concoction aside, I wondered if he would let me lick the spoon. It looked yummy and I was getting hungry.

I did my best to pout, "you are such a tease, all talk and no delivery of the goods."

"Do you really want to discuss whether or not I can deliver the goods?" There was laughter in his voice. I could feel my cheeks starting to burn as I realized how what I said could be interpreted. "Lucky for you I do put out, if you would have looked in the freezer you would know there is a mud pie there."

It was silly for me trying to tease this man, inevitably I would lose. He had been playing this game far longer than I. But it was still fun to do so, even if I just ended up embarrassing myself. In the end we would both win these games, he might embarrass me but whenever I batted my eyelashes at him in an exaggerated attempt to flirt he would always give me what I wanted.

Since dinner was not ready yet, I used the excuse that I wanted to work on a necklace to escape to the study. As soon as I had pulled the sliding door shut I ran across to the window and slid it open.

"Well?" I asked the darkness, the sun had set while I was talking to Phil.

I could hear Jake's heartbeat as it came closer to the window. "As best Edward can tell, the man can remember meeting the vampires but nothing after that. He is not sure though."

"Why not?" I hissed, I had thought Edward was the great mindreader. He could not crack one human brain?

"I will tell you about it later, but it looks like Phil does not know about the green eyed woman you seem to recall."

"All right, thanks Jake. See you later." I slowly closed the window.

"Sure, sure." I heard Jake say before he disappeared into the woods. The relief at Edwards verdict was almost overwhelming. I did not care that there was some strange woman running around in the woods that could kill three vampires, all I cared about was that Phil was still human. My little island of peace had not been disturbed yet.

I went back to the kitchen and hugged Phil. He seemed confused. "What is going on Princess?"

"Nothing, just wanted to say I missed you while you were gone. So when do we eat?" I asked him, my stomach was making some pretty loud noises.

"Did you miss me or the food?" He grumbled before he started to laugh. "Set out some plates, while I check to see if the cheese has melted."

Phil refused to let me take my bike home, so he drove me in the truck. I don't know what seemed to bother him more: me riding my bike home and being raped and murdered or the fact that I had not brought a jacket. Phil was strange sometimes, I could live with the human weird.

Jake was waiting for me when I got home, I went to tell my mom I was back but would be going on patrol.

_You seem to be in a good mood_. He thought at me as soon as I phased. We were running towards the Cullens property. We needed to come up with a new plan.

I could tell Jake was upset that Phil was not the person we were looking for. This meant there was something else running around in these woods, that green eyed woman seemed like a good place to start. This something could take on three vampires and alter memories. It might even be able to put clothes back together again, it was somewhat scary that it had redressed me. I should have been worried, but for some reason that face did not seem all that scary, in fact she seemed kind of nice.

* * *

A/N: Hi there ladies, what do you think? Thanks for all your reviews, it felt like christmas morning checking my email today. Is there a Review Addicts Anonymous somewhere?

Connect2tjb: Writing that chapter about the party was really fun, especially since I got to pick on Paul, he is such an ass. The gift was fun to figure out, it was kind of hard to narrow it down to the right combination.

ABarbieStory: Here you go another update, it is a good enough excuse to avoid doing laundry. I hate folding laundry. Glad you liked Phil's present of college applications, it was a good time for her to be pushed a little bit in the right direction. I think you may have a partial idea of what is going on, but the reality of it is really far out there. Anyway it is fun to speculate.

Twiligher: I think you did miss a set of updates, and I worry about everything. It is not a good thing that I have a very good imagination and can come up with these elaborate stories - as a kid if my parents were half an hour late home I would come up with these insane schemes as to how I was going to take care of my little brother and where we would live. Yeah I am insane. Glad you like the story, I am trying to write an original non-fanfic one and it is kind of hard because I am so attached to Phil and Leah - they are real people in my mind and I watch as they have conversations together. I need to develop my new characters to that point so that I can even begin.

Toshii519: It is not stalking if you do it with love, or so one of my friends used to say. I kept telling her that Brad Pitt and the police would consider it stalking. As to why Sue keeps pressing, maybe she is a worried mother, maybe she sees something that her daughter has yet to realize.

Oh well I am off to start the next chapter. Ta ta for now.


	15. Beginning of the End

14 - The beginning of the end

Had someone asked me last November where I saw myself in a year, this situation would not have made it on my list of possibilities. A year ago there was no such thing as vampires in my world, for that matter there was no such thing as werewolves.

I was sitting around the dinner table with a group of werewolves and vampires. There was no food on the table, this was not a dinner party. The vampires did not eat, and I could not have held anything down with their stench permeating the entire house. Jake was right, it was possible to get used to the constant burn in the nose, but I still would not have liked it mixed in with my meal.

It was a very nice table, perfectly matching the rest of the white and cream vampire decor. A little too bland for my taste, I tended to like colors a bit more. Maybe I could get Nessie some finger paint, or better yet some permanent makers. That would certainly give the place a little more color. Christmas was coming up and Jake was always telling me to be nice, smiling behind my hand I thought of the damage she would do to this room alone.

Why they bothered with the pretense of humanity? As far as I could tell they did not particularly like being around humans. So why bother with the whole attending high school thing, it was not like they could learn anything new. I did not think they went for the riveting conversations that occurred in a high school cafeteria.

Why did they not all live on a ranch somewhere, raise cattle, and drink the blood of those animals? It would certainly save them the trouble of having to hunt deer, and there would be less chance that someone would find the deer carcass while hiking through the woods. Jake had said it hurt them to breathe the scent of human blood, with my plan they would never have to interact with a human being ever again.

"We long to be normal," Edward told me interrupting my rambling thoughts.

It took me a few seconds to realize he was answering my internal question. I always thought it was kind of rude how he listened to your thoughts, it smacked of eavesdropping.

"I can't help it," he was not acting like he was bothered by the fact. I had heard that it drove him nearly insane that he could not hear the thoughts of his wife.

"Well it would be nice of you to try. Not everyone enjoys you poking around in their heads." I gave him a dirty look. "Anyway, you don't do a very good job." I added, they really did not fit in well with the other humans.

"If we interacted with them too much, the humans might get suspicious." He seemed to be getting a little defensive now. So they did know they sucked at being human.

"Like they don't already know you are freaks." They did not do anything with humans outside of attending classes with them. Esme might as well not exist, she spent so little time around humans. A human woman in her position would have been in Junior League, garden clubs, and president of the PTA.

"Speak for yourself dog," Rosalie joined in on the conversation. I smiled at her, remembering something Phil had told me. _Pretty is as pretty does_. If you took that into account Rosalie was an old hag. As far as I had seen she took bitch to a whole new level, but then I was not exactly the sweet thing.

I heard Edward cough. I knew vampires did not cough, since the undead did not need to breathe. He was trying to cover up a laugh. Rosalie came to the same conclusion, because she turned and gave Edward a furious glare.

"All right if everyone could have a seat please." Carlisle said as he stood next to the head of the table. "It looks like Phil was a dead end, he seems to know less than Leah."

"At least I think so." Edward interrupted, he seemed unsure of himself all of a sudden.

"What do you mean? Are you not sure?" Carlisle seemed confused, I guess they relied a great deal on Edward's ability to read minds.

Edward cringed and hesitated for a moment. "Phil seems to be really good at multitasking; while he was talking to Leah he was going through the procedure he had performed while he was gone. It was extensive surgery to the face, and was very bloody."

"In other words Edward had a hard time staying in his head." Jake interrupted with a laugh. I glared at him, I did not think this was that funny. We needed to know the truth.

"He has a very good memory with a great deal of attention to detail." Edward told us in a reluctantly admiring tone. I guess he was not used to actually dealing with adult minds, again I was wondering why they bothered with going to school and pretending to be kids.

"So you are not sure?" Emmett asked laughing. Nothing seemed to bother the big vampire, that was a good thing especially when you took his two uptight 'brothers' into account. The stick up Edward's ass had a stick up it's ass, I had never seen a guy as high-strung as Edward. Especially when it came to his wife's safety, he became a complete controlling jerk at that point.

"I was in his mind long enough to know he kind of remembers something about meeting the same three vampires as Leah, but then nothing. It is almost like he can't seem to concentrate on it, which strikes me as inconsistent with his apparent attention to details." Edward was getting even more defensive. But it looked like whatever messed with my head had done the same to Phil.

"I did a background check on him. Pretty much everything checks out. He went to a private high school abroad, then college, medical school, and residency. He was somewhat precocious, getting through college in two years instead of the standard four. He was close to the top of his class throughout most of his education, that is to be expected considering what you saw in his mind. No trouble with the law, but Homeland Security did have him flagged for a while as a traveller to potential terrorist regions. There was a later note in the record that cleared him of suspicion, but the reason was never given." Jasper added his intel to the discussion. I was pretty impressed with how much he had found out.

"What about his personal life? Anything jump out in that regard?" Edward asked.

"Never been married, no evidence of children. He does seem to have a regular roommate. Ophelia Smith, I think they went to the same high school as well as college. They separated after that since she went to graduate school, while he went to medical school. She is currently at U of W, an assistant professor in the biology department. His family seems to keep a low profile but it might just be because they don't live in the states. His parents are not Americans but he was naturalized a few years back." Jasper continued with his summary of Phil's life. "If he is not human he does a better job than we do at hiding it."

"Maybe you should ask him how he does it?" Emmett speculated with a booming laugh.

"Phila," I remembered an earlier conversation with Phil. "He calls her Phila, he mentioned her as a friend."

"I thought I remembered something with that name, Phillip Nelson. He was one of the co-authors in a _JAMA_ article about a new method for using stem cells on a collagen mesh to replenish epithelial tissue in burn victims. The data looks pretty good, I think they planned to move onto human trials soon," Carlisle added.

"Oh I recall the one now, the one about the..." Edward chimed in and off they went into nerd talk. I heard words like interleukin and tumor necrosis factor. I have to admit I kind of tuned them out, science was really not my thing.

"Where is he going when he is leaving the country?" I interrupted when I had finally had enough.

"Not the tourist places. More like places you would not want to walk around without an armed escort." Jasper seemed bothered by this. "But I could not find anything else about it."

We fell silent, I guess we all agreed that the Phil avenue was kind of dead.

"So we are going to pursue this green eyed woman?" Jake finally asked.

"I don't know, there is not enough information, I can't even remember what she looked like." I was getting really frustrated. All of a sudden I could feel an unnatural calm settle over me. "Stop that." I said looking over at Jasper, I could not even get angry enough to feel properly annoyed with him for messing with my emotions.

"We will make it a policy that no one goes into the woods alone, is that acceptable?" Carlisle waited for everyone around the table to either nod or say a yes before he continued. "But I fear there is nothing more we can do. We pursued Phil and came up empty handed. We have no other clues. The only decision left is should we tell the other pack?" Carlisle looked at Jake at this point.

I was impressed, Carlisle involved everyone in the decision making. He also would yield the floor whenever he thought someone else would have more knowledge. I wonder how Sam would feel if I pointed out this strategy to him. I almost smiled at the thought. Sam would not take it well, he always seemed to think he knew best.

Jake actually thought about Carlisle question for while, I was kind of proud of the guy. He was turning out to be a little less impulsive, at first I had left Sam's pack only to get away from him. Now I was starting to appreciate that Jake might some day grow into a decent pack leader. "I still do not think we should include Sam, he has enough information to fuel his paranoia. His pack's numbers are high enough that he does not let them patrol alone. And there is no way to know that this woman is dangerous to us. Maybe to you guys, since she does seem capable of killing vampires."

* * *

Things went back to normal for the next couple of weeks, or as normal as my life could get. Though I did try to keep Phil out of the woods, I used the excuse that it was getting too cold.

"Now you worry about warm clothes." He told me laughing, I thought my pride was worth keeping Phil safe. Not that I wanted to venture into the woods alone anymore, much to my dismay I had to cut out my lone nightly runs. I had to push myself to be content by thinking cross legged on my bed.

A few colleges wrote me back stating that it was too late for me to apply for their Spring semester but suggesting I try to apply for their Summer or Fall semester. That made me depressed for a while until I got my first acceptance letter. It was just to some small junior college in the western part of the state, but still someone wanted me. I did not accept it right away, instead I inquired about the financial aid they had available. That would be the deal breaker for me, if I could not afford to pay for school I would not be attending. University of Washington still has not sent me anything and I was getting a little worried. The school really looked good, at least on paper. It was close enough to the Rez that I could get back if anything truly went wrong, but it was far enough away that I did not have to live at home. I was still intent on leaving this place behind, but now I wanted to see the world, instead of escape this place.

"So young, and so impatient." Phil had teased me when I complained about the fact that University of Washington still had not written me back.

I stuck my tongue out at him in response. Not the most mature thing I know, but I could not think of a better comeback.

"I could ask around for you. I have a friend who is a faculty member there?" He offered, ignoring my childish behavior.

"Phila right?" I said before I could remember that this was not something I was supposed to know about.

"Right. Did I tell you about her?" Phil asked, as small crease of concentration appearing in the middle of his forehead as he tried to remember when he mentioned her.

"You did say she liked Mr. Darcy." I recalled him telling me about that. Luckily that seemed to placate him. I did not want to have to explain to him why I knew about his friend. Most people would not appreciate you doing a background check on them behind their backs.

It was a the second week of December, the weather outside was overcast with the threat of rain. The mailman stopped by the store a little earlier than usual. He had a thick envelope in his hand but he did not hand it over to my mother who had gone to greet him. Instead he came over to where I was dusting and rearranging one of the displays. "I thought you might want this now, and I would save myself the trip of delivering it to your house." He told me with a big smile.

I could see that the envelope was from the University of Washington, their logo was emblazoned on the back. So it was not much of a secret that I was waiting to hear from U of W, my mother might have told everyone about it. The envelope was very heavy, much like my other acceptance letters. It did not feel like a rejection letter, those tended to be a little smaller. It did not take that much to tell you they did not want you.

"Well open it," my mother said when she noticed me sitting there just staring at it.

I hesitated a few more seconds, a certain nervousness overcoming me. What would I do if they rejected me? This place had a great reputation both academically and I had recently found out environmentally. They had been rated one of the greenest schools in the nation. I handed the envelope over to my mother. "You open it."

I expected my mother to hesitate like I had but she simply pulled out one of her scissors and ripped the thing open.

"Congratulations Ms. Clearwater, you got in." My mother said in a serious tone after she had looked at the top letter.

I grabbed the pile of papers from her, my hands were shaking so hard I dropped most of them. Fortunately I managed to retain the top one which congratulated me on my acceptance to the University of Washington for the Spring semester.

This might sound silly but I wanted to share this with someone who had actually gone through this process. My mother was happy for me but she did not seem to understand the full extent of my dreams. Neither one of my parents had gone to college, my mother had married my father straight out of high school and they had immediately taken over helping run the family business. I would be the first one in my family to go to college. It had not been necessary for my family before me, things had been simpler a generation ago.

So I called the person who I had spent so much time dreaming next to. The person who I thought might possibly understand what this moment felt like. I know it was just a college acceptance but it was the first step towards the rest of my life. That light I had been eyeing, the one at the end of this dark tunnel was suddenly a lot closer. I called Phil, he would understand, he always seemed to understand. I did not tell him my news, I wanted to do it in person.

"You are coming to pick me up and treating me to lunch." I told him as a greeting.

"Hi Princess, how are you doing?" His laugh telling me he was not upset over my demands. "I will be there in twenty minutes." I liked Phil, he did not get offended when I ordered him around. He seemed to understand when I needed him to just back down and do as I ask. Well all except when it came to navigation, that was one thing he would not back down on.

I heard the smooth motor of his motorcycle eighteen minutes after I hung up on him. I had been watching the clock while I pretended to work on the display. I think I have been dusting the exact same spot since hanging up on Phil.

I met him outside, I was still carrying the envelope with me. I quickly hid it behind my back as he took off his helmet. He swung his leg around the bike and leaned back against it, I had noticed that he enjoyed doing this. I usually took the time to appreciate how long and lean his legs were, but I was in too much of a hurry today.

"So where is the fire Princess?" He asked with a big smile.

"You will never guess what?" I said trying to keep the answering smile off my face. I did not succeed for long.

Phil made the appropriate sounds of excitement, he was satisfactorily excited over the prospect of me going to U of W.

"Hop on, I have lunch ready at the cabin." He tried to hand me my usual helmet, but I declined for the moment.

I ran inside to talk to my mother. I promised to come back later in the evening and clean the boats that were due back this afternoon. "I guess I should have asked if I could leave first." I told her in a bashful tone.

"Drive safely," my mother said eyeing the motorcycle. Phil did not usually bring the bike to pick me up. I could just picture my mother's face if she knew how fast he actually drove that thing.

"Don't worry, Phil is a good driver." As I turned to go, I noticed my mother rubbing her eyes. "Mom?" I asked, getting anxious.

"Don't worry just go." She said turning away from me. My werewolf hearing picked up a watery sniff.

"Mom what is wrong?" I asked getting truly concerned now, my mother never cried.

"Nothing, just my little girl is growing up. It has happened a lot faster than I had thought. It seems like just a few days ago you were running around in pigtails trying to save your dolls from Seth." She turned back to me, I could see the tears streaming down her face now.

I went back to hug my mom. I had not considered that I would be leaving my mother, in a moment of epiphany I saw my situation from my mother's point of view. She wanted me to succeed but at the same time she still loved me and would miss me. It was easy to know that my father loved me, I was his precious little daughter and he had always been much more overt in his expressions of affection. My mother was not like that at all, keeping it all inside. She was much more closed up about her feelings, but that did not mean she loved me any less than father had. I felt my eyes starting to sting as a warning of impending tears, so I blinked to try to prevent them.

"Oh just go, and enjoy your celebration." My mother said hugging me back with all her strength.

I could feel that my efforts to stop the tears were somewhat futile, some traitors had made their way past the brink of my eyelids.

"I will be back soon," I promised my mother.

Phil did not ask about what had taken me so long, he was still propped up against his bike. He handed me my helmet without comment, I am sure my eyes were red rimmed.

It was on the quick ride to the cabin that I truly started to get worried. What if I could not get enough financial aid? Where would I live? What would I do?

"Why do you have all this food made?" I asked suspiciously as Phil placed a plate filled with food in front of me. The meal looked elaborate, too luxurious for an everyday lunch. The meat was surrounded by some sort of pastry and covered with a sauce I did not recognize. The vegetables looked different from the usual peas, carrots and corn I was used to at my mother's table.

"What, you don't think I have all this everyday?" He asked laughing as he sat down next to me.

"No I do not." I looked at him suspiciously. "Explain." I fired the one word command at him a moment before I started stuffing my face. It was really good, table manners be damned.

"Well I might possibly know someone who works at U of W and she might have possibly peeked a little for me." He said with a smile, there was not one ounce of regret in his voice.

"I am pretty sure that is completely illegal." I pointed out.

"I told you nothing is illegal so long as you don't get caught." He explained with a dimpled smile.

"Is that a personal motto?" I asked and could not help laughing. He was such a character at times.

"More like a family motto. By the way nice necklace." He said changing the subject.

"It was my grandmother's, my great grandmother made it for a wedding gift for her." I explained. I had seen through his less than subtle attempt to change the subject but I did not care. I was on a 'I just got accepted to college' high, and Phil's clandestine activities were not going to bother me today. Only one cloud could ruin my sunshine today and that was the whole paying for the college bit.

"Very nice, it is wonderful to have something to help us remember where we came from." Phil gave me a small smile and I pondered what it was that he kept for himself.

Phil seemed to know things, so I decided to ask him about my financial aid.

"Well it helps that you are a girl, and a minority. Sorry, it is just the way things are in the world. What does not help is that your family owns a business. But I would not worry about that part." He lay a comforting hand on my lower arm.

"Hello? It must be nice not to worry about money but some of us have to live in the real world, Mr. Plastic Surgeon." I told him with sarcasm thick in my voice.

"You want me to pay for your school?" He asked casually, but I had spent enough time to recognize the look he gave me. He was much more serious than he let on.

"No of course not. I will make my own way in the world thank you very much." I replied, I did not want to be dependent on another man. Been there done that, have the internal scars to show for it.

"Well might I suggest getting a job? Your best shot is either something on campus because they understand student hours. The other option is waitressing, you are strong and have a good sense of balance. If you can get into a better restaurant the tips can be pretty significant. The hours tend to be later and will not cut into morning classes." He was leaning back on his chair now as he listed my options.

"You have given this a great deal of thought," I laughed at him while considering his suggestion.

Phil had gone all out and had even gotten sparkling grape juice for me, the non-alcoholic kind. I was enjoying the fizzy drink and dessert when the phone rang.

Phil reached over with his long arms and managed to grab the cordless phone that had been left on the counter without getting up. He almost fell over as he tipped the chair too far back.

"Nice," I told him with sarcasm, not that I did not appreciate the way his muscles moved under his shirt when he stretched like that.

"Hi there," Phil said answering the phone, his tone had cooled significantly. He was using his everyone else voice, the one where I swore he was faking his emotions.

"This is Jacob and I was wondering if Leah is still there." It was disconcerting to hear Jake speak with such formality.

"Yes she is, do you want to talk to her?" Phil did not wait for an answer but handed me the phone. "It is your friend Jacob, he wants to talk to you."

"Jake this is Leah, what's up?" I asked still in a happy mood after the news I had just got. Not to mention the dessert I was eating, a concoction of cream, eggs, and sugar. Crème brûlée is what Phil had called it, I preferred the term heaven.

Then Jake said the words that I had not been expecting, the worst words ever uttered in the human language. The words that managed to ruin what I had thought was an indestructible good mood.

"The Volturi are coming." That is all I heard.

I do not know what happened next, I think I dropped the phone because I heard the thunk of it hitting the floor. All I could feel was the shaking of my hands. I muttered something incomprehensible to Phil as I started walking towards the back door. He might have spoken but I was not listening. I was concentrating too hard on making it out of the house without phasing.

I ran out the back porch, maybe a little faster than I should have been able to do had I been a human. I barely made it past the first set of trees before I felt myself burst through of my clothes. It was the fastest I had phased ever in my entire life.

As I ran, I recalled Jake had been at the vampires' house. So I turned in the right direction to make that my destination. I was over a mile from Phil's cabin when I realized I had been wearing my grandmother's necklace. It was no longer around my neck.

I spent a moment mourning the loss of that much history before pushing on towards the Cullen mansion. I would think about that later, for now I had to find out where the Volturi were.

_Leah, Leah where are you?_ I heard my brother call, he was in wolf form.

_ Seth, I am coming what is going on?_ I thought back at him.

I almost stumbled in relief when Seth clarified what had happened. It turned out Alice had seen something, had one of her visions of the future. The Volturi had made a decision and were coming with the entire army. Somehow they were using Nessie as an excuse. The feeling of relief at the fact that they were not here did not last long as I comprehended the full import of Seth's thoughts. It might have been foolish of me not to get all the details but I could not seem to get my mind past the vampire army. This would not be the newborns we faced a few months ago, this would be the entire Volturi court. We were talking fully trained vampire warriors.

* * *

Alice and her mate Jasper were gone the next day. It is a pretty bad omen when your psychic bails out on you, what the fuck had she seen that made her abandon her family in the middle of the night like a fugitive running from the law.

We had to stay. Jake had to protect his mate and we had to do what we could to protect the tribe, not that it looked success was at all possible. We were preparing for a battle we would lose. That did not matter, we had a job to do, we were the protectors of the tribe and we would do so even if it cost us our lives.

Jake and Sam increased the patrols around the Rez, both in number and in size. I stopped working for my mother altogether. My life became sleep, eat, patrol and repeat as we started making larger and larger circles around the region. Sleep became a luxury rather than a necessity, I don't know how I managed it but somehow I was able to run half asleep.

Phil got neglected as well, at first I did not notice or he may just have been giving me my space. I had called him to try to come up with some sort of explanation as to why I ran from his house.

"My mother collapsed," I explained to him. "She is fine but she gave us a scare." Edward had come up with this explanation, it was handy to know a vampire that was this good at lying.

Phil had been properly concerned but I managed to reassure him. I used the excuse that I would be watching over her more carefully as to why I would not be around for a while.

Alice had predicted when they would come but that was just the main group, Sam wanted us to make sure we were not caught unawares by some early arrivals. Jake was with Sam on this one so we patrolled and patrolled and patrolled.

Then our lives became even more complicated. The Cullens had sent out some invitations, hoping to find allies to help them slow down the Volutri enough to listen to their side of the story. This was major problem for us, even though we understood the need for more allies these vampires were not vegetarian like the Cullens. They still hunted humans to survive; though they did graciously promise to leave the state to find their victims. Like that was supposed to be fucking reassuring, it was ok so long as we did not have to find the bodies.

These new leeches made the hair rise on the back of my neck every time I saw them, I think it was those blood red eyes. I came to appreciate the lifestyle choice the Cullens had made, it could not have been easy for them.

I lost track of the days but one afternoon my mother was waiting for me when I came home.

"Leah," she said with a serious tone.

Despite the fact that I was so tired I was using all my energy to put one foot in front of the other I paused to look at her. She had used the worried mother tone. I diverted my remaining momentum to make myself fall on the couch across for the chair she was sitting in.

"Leah, Phil has stopped by the house several times now. He came to check on me to make sure I was fine after my episode of fainting." I heard her say the word with disgust, but she continued on. She might have understood the need for that lie but she did not like it. "He is getting very worried about you, he was mentioning things like depression or drugs. You need to give him some sort of explanation."

As much as he worried about me, it could not compare to how much I had started to worry about him. The long patrols tended to be tedious with nothing to do but think and run. So when I actually got enough sleep to have cognitive functioning that is all I did: think and worry. What would happen to some lone guy in the woods when the Volturi came through this region? He was alone is the woods with no neighbors, they would never find his body. Then another thought occurred to me, what would happen if one of the vampires currently staying with the Cullens got a little hungry and did not want to make a long trip to another state.

"Leah you need to tell him something, he cares about you and wants to know if you are all right. Just go see him and tell him something, anything. The man has been nothing but supportive of you. To ignore him like this, is a slap in the face." There was something in her voice that I was too tired to interpret.

I heaved myself off the couch realizing I would not get any of the sleep I had counted on this afternoon and headed over to the phone. What the hell was I going to tell Phil? Obviously he had not fully accepted my lies. My mother was right, the man had been especially nice to me when I had needed a friend, this silence was not the way to repay him.

An apology of some sort started to form in my mind but I was not able to use it. I tried both his numbers but was unable to reach him. I was too tired to tell if I was relieved or upset with the delay. Instead I fell asleep on the couch, still holding the phone as my body finally gave up.

A few days later I was running patrols with Seth, when I heard him thinking about why Edward had left a year or so ago. It was pretty impressive what lengths that man had gone to, he had been willing to do anything to protect his wife. Including telling Bella he no longer loved her, so that she could move on and have a normal life.

A plan began to form in my mind, I might not love Phil more than life itself but I did care about his well being. It would be simple enough to implement the same plan that Edward had tried to use on Bella.

_ It did not work out very well for Edward, in fact it had caused more harm than good. _Seth pointed out, but I chose to ignore him.

I could tell Phil I no longer wanted to hang out with some old man. I could make him think I was an immature brat.

_I might not know much but I seem to get the impression that Phil always sees the best in you. Somehow I doubt you could convince him of the fact that you are a brat. _Seth pointed out, as he ran through a stream, splashing water everywhere with a great deal of glee. It was sickening but no matter what Seth saw the best in every person and situation, even when we were facing certain death he still had not given up hope.

_How do you know so much about Phil?_ I asked him.

_Well, I was home a couple of times when he came to check on you. I sort of talked to him some. I am telling you, he will not believe you._ Seth was certain of himself, he flicked through memories of sitting on the couch with Phil just talking. Then Seth switched to the memories of what I was like in September. My brother's memories were a lot more charitable than I would have been. I had been a mess, completely lost in my bitter world.

_I like you this way much better._ Seth explained, comparing the past memories of me to the current ones.

_ I like myself better this way too. The only issue I have currently is the vampire army. Other than that, everything is just peachy. _I ran ahead of him, hoping to outrun the future that was on a collision course with my life.

I did not hesitate too long after making the decision to "break up" with Phil; I wanted to get it over with before I lost my courage. My life would have been so much easier if I had imprinted on him, I could have just told him the full truth and explained why he had to get the hell out of dodge.

No, that would never have happened, Phil was not the type to abandon ship. I cringed at the thought of him trying to help somehow.

I did not call to see if he was home, I just headed there one afternoon. He was cleaning out one of the flower beds behind the cabin. He must have been working for a most of the morning, despite the cool temperatures he was sweating as he pulled up the dead plants and prepared the soil for winter.

He paused in his work and watched me as I approached. There was a feeling that you get when you know you have royally fucked up and now you have to go explain it to your mother. That is what it felt like at this point, as if I was reluctantly heading towards the inevitable lecture.

"Hi," I said in a quiet and hesitant voice. "How are you?"

Phil did not return my greeting, instead he continued to have the stern parent look on his face. I fidgeted and tried to fill the silence.

"So I heard you were looking for me?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. _Leah get your act together and get him out of the state._

"You forgot your paperwork for U of W when you rushed out the other day." His constant smile was gone, replaced by the blank expression he had used when we had first met. Had I not been learning all his expressions for the past few months I might have missed the hint of worry behind the mask.

"Oh yeah," I had completely forgotten about that. The light I had been seeing was completely dimmed now. I could no longer detect a glimmer of it anymore, college was out of the picture. Survival was far more important at this point.

"You do not seem too worried about it? Do you not want it back?" He asked getting up from the flower bed and taking off his gloves. The wind shifted and it pushed his scent my way: soap, sweat, and Phil - I would miss that comforting combination of smells.

"Yeah I guess I do need it." College was so far from my main priorities right now, all I wished and hoped for right now was survival.

"I sent in your acceptance for you." He said in a matter of fact tone.

"Excuse me?" I sputtered. Now why did he have to go do something like that?

"You heard me, I also called around. You seem to have missed the deadline for most scholarships. They tend to be given out in the fall. So I contacted some people. Congratulations you now have your tuition fully paid for as well as a stipend to cover your books." The mask was still in place, I almost wished he would yell at me instead. At least that meant I could yell back.

"What? I can't think of that right now." This conversation had not gone the way I wanted it to. He was dangling that carrot in front of me, the dream that I could never attain.

"Why not Leah?" His brown eyes never left my face making it a lot harder not to squirm under his scrutiny.

I had a moment of genius. "I cannot leave now, I have to help my mother. What if she collapses again?" That would be a good enough reason to put my dreams on hold, something a lot more reasonable than killer vampire army.

"You are going to sacrifice your future over an episode of hypoglycemia?" Phil seemed incredulous.

"Look maybe you don't understand family!" I was getting pissed, I was staying behind for my mother and brother and every member of my tribe. I was sacrificing my dreams and more than likely my life for them. But Phil did not understand that, he never would. It was better that way.

"You are using it as an excuse, giving up on a dream before you can have a chance to fail?" He ignored my family comment, not even acknowledging it.

"What do you know?" I lost my temper now and screamed it at him. Anger was preferable over anguish, that would only lead to me crying on his broad shoulder and telling him all my troubles. This was one thing that Phil could not be involved in.

"It is better to shoot for the moon and miss than to shoot for shit and hit it," he stood straight up and looked down at me with a great deal of disappointment. "Currently Leah you are shooting for shit and you will hit it."

I did not have to aim for the shit, it was flying at me all on its own, at vampire speed.

"Look Phil I no longer want to hang out with you. So why don't you just go back to your boobs and butts in California." I told trying to get back on track, this was the reason I was here. Not to discuss my lost dreams with him.

"I believe I should feel insulted at that statement. But I am going to attribute it to whatever crisis you seem to be trying to deal with currently." Phil said with a deep sigh. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No I don't want anything to eat. What I want you to do is leave." The words had to be forced past the large lump that had suddenly developed in my throat.

"So you came all the way over here to tell me to get lost?" He seemed hesitant for a moment, listening to something more than just my words. I watched a flash of understanding or possibly pride pass across his face, but it was quickly gone. "All right, I did have some stuff that needed to be taken care of at work." He acquiesced to my demands. "I will get lost," he smiled for the first time today, the dimples came out in full force.

_He agreed a little too quickly and easily_, said the voice in my head. Shut up, I told it, he will be safe. The victory seemed hollow, I would miss this man. No not this man, this friend who always believed in me, even when I did not believe in myself.

"One second, I have something for you." Phil said as I turned to leave. "Your christmas gift since I guess I will not be seeing you then." I reluctantly followed him into the house,.

He came down the stairs with a long and narrow velvet jewelry case, it was marked with some fancy jeweler's name that I did not recognize. Inside was a beautiful pear necklace and earring set.

The guilt came on full force, here I was being a bitch to him an he was getting me presents.

"Thanks," I said looking at the earrings with regret. It sucked being a wolf for so many reasons.

"They are magnetic, since your ears are not pierced." He explained making me feel even worse for his thoughtfulness. "Every girl needs a pear necklace, just in case you have to an interview or something along those lines." Of course he would think of my future, and I thought of my past and my grandmother's necklace that had been lost just outside of this house.

I said my goodbyes, and walked out the door before I did something stupid like start crying again and explain about the vampire army that was coming.

I went back a few days later to the cabin, to check on Phil and maybe thank him again for the gift. The house was empty, there was a strong smell of detergent and disinfectant that permeated every room. The computer that had been on the desk was gone, it scared me how well Phil had just picked up his things and left. There was no evidence that he had been here at all. I tried to back door and found it to be locked, I nearly broke down right there.

I cried a little that night, I don't exactly know why I cried. Maybe it was because I had no future. Maybe it was because I had lost a friend. Maybe it was because my wolf life had finally caught up with me and I could no longer pretend to be human. I could now understand why the Cullens tried so hard to fit in. Hoping to recapture a little glimmer of the normalcy, of the possibilities that no longer existed once you became part of the supernatural world.

* * *

_ The two figures watched as the young woman tossed and turned in her bed._

"_Sleep peacefully child," the man whispered, and almost instantly she settled down into a deeper sleep. "I hate watching her do this, I wish I could tell her it will be all right."_

"_She needs to fight through this on her own." The woman finally commented._

"_I know but I so want to wrap her up in a protective cocoon and take her away from all this." The frustration was evident in the man's voice._

"_You know that would not be best for her. Let her fight her own battles. So she can understand her own self worth."_

"_I know, but still." He reached over and turned off the alarm clock._

"_She will miss her patrols," the woman chided._

"_Nothing will happen, at least not tomorrow." The man said his pale green eyes turning suddenly to a deep shade of purple._

"_Are you sure? Your visions have been spotty of late."_

_He nodded as his eyes turned green again, "I am certain, but that does not mean I will stop watching over her."_

_The woman rolled eyes at him, "I guess I will take first watch. Some of us have a day job we have to get to."_

* * *

_A/N: I know I just updated but I am rushing through to the end, at least this part of the story. _

_ABarbiestory: You have to love Seth, he is the cutest little thing. I kind of thought it was smart not to tell Sam, he has not sphincter control and would probably have kittens at this point. But I guess now all his glorious paranoia has come to fruition and he has something real to worry about. I sent you a message to answer your Seth story question, I hope that cleared it up._


	16. The Guardians

A/N: I have so far tried to stick (well as best as I can remember) to the way things happened in the books. But things are about to change a tiny bit (ok a huge bit, but I could not find another way to do it.)

* * *

15 - The guardians

The last week of December, possibly the last week of my life was exceptionally cold. All the weathermen were predicting snow soon, Christmas came and went. It was muddy and brown, not that we really felt like celebrating. It had rained and frozen over a couple of times, but the little amount of the white stuff that had fallen did not stay around for very long. Instead it melted and refroze into even more ice. Usually my father would grumble and groan while he dragged out the decorations, and Seth and I would be in charge of setting up the year we did not bother with a tree, my mother put out a couple of cards relatives had sent us this year and that was the extent of our holiday spirit..

_ Maybe I would get to see the world blanketed with snow before I died. That would be nice to see for one last time. _Patrols had become my life now, I did nothing else.

My brother caught up with me and butted my side with his huge head. _Cheer up Leah, we still could win this._

Seth and his ever present optimism could be grating at times. I mean, how happy could you be when you were looking at imminent death? Maybe he did get dropped on his head a lot.

_Look on the bright side, if things really go wrong we get to kill as many vampires as we want. _Embry added, already thinking of pitting his strength against skilled vampires. He had thought the fight versus the newborns this spring had been too easy but I guess he was not the one that practically broke every bone on one side of his body.

_ Why did you have to join Jake's pack? Could you not have stayed with Sam? _I grumbled for the millionth time in my mind.

_Yeah let's all go back to Sam's pack cause I really miss Paul_, Quil interrupted.

_Anytime you wanna see him just come by my house._ Jake thought about the fact that Paul had practically moved in. I guess we were so busy arguing I did not hear him phasing.

_JAKE! Now the entire gang is here_. Seth thought loudly. He even jumped up and down with little excited yips. I did not think a wolf the size of Seth could possibly make a noise that high but unfortunately I was wrong. Seth was doing a really good chihuahua impression.

_ Time for the games to begin_, Embry added excitedly.

I could hear Jake's mental sigh, even though these guys were his best buds I think they still irritated him half the time. The problem was that tempers were running short as we approached what Embry liked to call V-day.

_ Yeah well we irritate you all the time_, Embry thought helpfully in my direction.

_Congratulations, you want a cookie? _I asked him.

Jake, Quil, and I were the only members of this pack who seemed to have any grasp of the current situation. For Jake and Quil they had the added worry of their mates, both were being driven nearly insane at the thought of what could happen if we failed at stopping the Volturi.

We were practicing again today, it had become a routine thing to do before our patrols. Incase it came down to a fight we would need to maximize the damage we would inflict so learning to work as a team was important.

We ran through drills, it was the first time all day that Embry got serious.

_ Maybe next time we could get the big guy, Emmett to come practice with us._ Embry suggested hopefully as our practice wound down. _You know just so we can get used to fighting vampires._

_This is not a game_, Jake was getting a little more than frustrated. The weeks of worry were starting to put a major strain on him. Not to mention the fact that he did not get to see Nessie as often as he wished. He pulled himself together, and pushed the thought of how best to murder Embry out of his mind.

_ There is no way you would take me. But you are welcome to try._ Embry thought hopping up and down.

_I will help you hold him down_. I started thinking of various strategies to pin him down.

_That offer is very tempting Leah_._ I will have to decline for now_. Jake considered the possibility of a tussle, but as nervous as we were things might get out of hand and someone might get hurt.

_ Time to start our patrols,_ I suggested.

_Hey what was your mom cooking for dinner?_ Quil asked. It was barely six in the morning but he was already thinking about dinner.

_Brussels sprouts and artichokes._ Memories of eating artichokes flooded my mind, along with the man who had introduced me to them. I quickly pushed them back. He was gone, I had said my goodbyes even if they were not really all that eloquent.

_ Maybe you should call him, you have his cell phone number right? _Seth suggested. _At least you can say merry christmas or something._

_Oh and tell him to bring food. If his cooking is half as good as your memories I want some. _Embry was reflecting back my own memories of dinners with Phil. I have to admit I did miss the food, but not as much as I missed the man.

_I think Embry here is trying to compete with Paul for the most annoying wolf award_. Quil was the quietest of our bunch, but when he did say something it was usually worth listening to. Unlike Embry.

_Hey I heard tha_t, Embry complained trying to bite me. But I twisted out of the way and ran towards the underbrush. There was one good thing about being one of the smaller wolves. I could run past places that none of the bigger guys could fit through. Embry finally gave up trying to catch up with me. _Slowpoke._

He only responded with a mental growl.

_ All right, time to go do our jobs. Stay safe guys, don't do anything stupid. _Jake started dividing up the territory we were responsible for watching over.

_I don't think Embry is able to follow that rule. _I was a good mile away from him now, so broadcasting such thoughts was completely safe.

_ Leah! You are supposed to be one of the more mature ones here. _Jake was getting really exasperated.

_I am only pointing out the truth. _There was only a slight snicker to my thoughts.

It was late afternoon before we were relieved by some members of Sam's pack. They were mostly the newly changed younger ones, I considered staying around just in case something happened but I was too exhausted. At this point I was so tired it would not bother me if an entire coven of vampires tore through the rez and killed everyone, so long as they did not wake me up. Seth had gone to do another circuit with Jake and so he was further out, I would beat him home.

_Get some sleep,_ Jake commanded knowing that this was one of the few times I would actually obey a command without making a fuss.

_Will do, oh great and glorious leader_. I had perfected sarcasm in my thoughts a while back. I hoped Jake and the rest of the pack truly appreciated my expertise level.

_Yeah we do_, I could practically see Jake roll his eyes.

As I approached the back door of the house I noticed something strange in the front yard. I did not get a good look at it at first, since the house blocked most of my view. It was not until I moved around the house a little that I figured out what it was. A strange car.

It was a beat up looking VW bug, one of the ones that was so popular in the 70s or something. My tired mind could not recall the specifics, but it was easy to surmise that this car was probably around to see those times. There were several rusty spots, the driver door was a grey color while the frame seemed to be a beige. The hood was a faded red.

I did not know who this car belonged to and I did not want to find out. I was not in the mood for company. The other problem was I had no clothes, so my options were to enter the house naked or as a big wolf. I could not see either option working out well, so I reluctantly turned around and started to run back to the tree line.

"Leah, wait." I heard my mother call from the back door. Only my wolf hearing allowed me to make out what she had said.

I turned back and phased to human behind some bushes. "I am just leaving, I might go crash at Jake's place." I thought of that plan but then changed my mind. Paul was there and at this point I was grumpy enough to do the world a huge favor and take him out.

"Why are you leaving Leah?" My mother was walking a little closer to me a curious look on her face.

"Shh they will hear you." I scolded.

"Who will hear me?" She looked utterly confused. "You know the neighbors are too far away."

"The person whose car is in the front drive." I pointed out the obvious.

That is when my mother laughed, a real genuine hold your stomach and cry laugh. I had not heard her laugh this hard since before my father had died.

I just stood there, my tired mind not understanding what was so funny, maybe the stress of our current situation had finally gotten to her and she had finally snapped.

It took her a while to calm down long enough to explain to me who the owner of the car was. Me. It was a belated christmas present combined with and early college present.

"Mom, I don't think I will make it long enough to go to college." I said quietly. Only now when there was no possibility of a future did I start realizing that I had rebuilt my castle. This time there was no prince involved, it was made of my dreams, only my dreams. I tried not to think of everything I would miss. I was nineteen, I was not ready to die yet, I had only now started to live again.

"There is always hope Leah." My mother said in almost as quiet a voice. She got a funny look on her face.

"What is it now mom?" I asked worried.

"Maybe you can just gather up your stuff and head to Seattle. Today, right now. It is a big enough town, they would probably not find you there." I could hear the desperation in her voice. "Just take off and never come back."

I looked at her speechless for a minute.

"Umm.. your papers are here, Phil dropped them off for you before he headed out." Her speech was start to sound a little more frantic now. She was half babbling. "You did not tell me you had a scholarship, I have all the information. I even have the information about finding a dorm. You also have an appointment on January 5th with an advisor."

I listened for minute and imagined what it would be like to just take off. Throw some clothes in that car and head to Seattle and to a future. I could go to college, I could go travel and see the places I had only read about or seen on TV. "I wish I could mom and it is very tempting but I have a job to do."

"According to whom?" My mother demanded. "That teenager Sam? Or the stories which have been passed down and distorted for god only know how many generations?"

"Mom, we have the power to possibly make a difference, no one else can do that. Anyway what would happen if I left, if I managed not to get caught, how would I live? Always on the run? More importantly how could I live with the fact that I left my family behind." That would not be a life, merely a half existence. I would be worse than the life the vampires lived.

I could see the tears in my mother's eyes. "You and Seth are the only ones I have left, now that your father is gone. I am a mother, there is nothing I would not do to protect the two of you. In this situation all I can do is sit back and watch you go to your possible death." Her sigh sounded suspiciously like a sob. "How about an Alaskan Cruise? We could all go together?" Her laugh sounded utterly fake even to my tired senses.

"Alaska is all frozen over right now, think more Caribbean Cruise, plus it would be on the other side of the continent." I modified the plan a bit. While we were dreaming, might as well go for it.

"And sunny, vampires don't really like the sun." My mother pointed out with a watery smile.

We went to look at my new car, the one that I would not be using as my method of escape. We drove around the neighborhood once. The car sounded terrible but it ran, I figured it would probably behove me to convince Jake to take a look at it. He seemed to know a great deal more than I did about cars. That would all have to come _after_, if there was an after.

I finally woke up enough to realized that I had not actually thanked my mother for the car. "Thanks for the car mom." I said giving her a hug.

We both knew I was thanking her for more than just the car. I was really thanking her for trying to protect me.

* * *

The first morning of the new year dawned bright with a great deal of promise. I had woken up early to see the sunrise, there were very few clouds today to block the sun's rays. For the first time in weeks we were going to have a day filled with sunshine. Mother nature was messing with me, she did not seem to realize what was just over the horizon.

There was fresh snow on the ground, it had completely blanketed my little piece of the world - this small portion that I might have to give my life to defend on this day. If Alice's predictions were true the Volturi would be here today.

Seth found me on a rock staring at the sky trying my best not to be consumed by my fears.

_Come on let's go._ He was hopping around me, his enthusiasm was out of place.

_Geez are you this excited to go meet your death?_ I asked him. I seriously needed some of the crack he was on.

Seth just wagged his tail and attempted to do a doggie back flip. He landed on his rump, and then whined because he hurt it.

_ Jake is already there, probably getting the good seats too_. Embry chimed in as soon as he phased.

Quil phased right after him, he was even more quiet than usual this morning. He was thinking of what would happen to his Claire if things went wrong. This one time I was glad that I had not found my mate, I had enough reasons to worry without adding another person to the bunch.

Jake had spent the night near the clearing, we were supposed to meet up with him there. It did not take us long to get near the place, even with trying to stay downwind of everyone. It would kind of ruin the surprise if they smelt us before we wanted to announce our presence.

So there we were sulking in the bushes, I was glad I had not eaten anything for breakfast because my stomach was doing summersaults.

Jake and Sam had been talking furiously all morning, making and adjusting plans. It was kind of strange to hear them talk because we only heard Jake's side of the conversation. But it was pretty obvious that Sam was being his usual bossy self, trying to make everyone line up just the way he wanted them.

Sam kept shifting the group so we could stay downwind of the clearing. The vampires from our side were all already there. The stench of that many of them was overwhelming, I could see some of the younger wolves from Sam's pack were getting a little antsy. Those of us who had fought against the newborns were a little better at hiding our jittery feeling, but I pitied the younger kids. They must be scared out of their minds, not that I was any different.

I don't know why Sam brought them, they would be of little help in a fight.

_ By showing up here we reveal our existence to the vampires. If things go badly leaving them behind would have not helped. This way we can bolster the numbers and make us look stronger than we really are. _I had not heard Jake string together this many words in a while.

_Wow you have really given this a lot of thought._ Seth sounded as impressed as I was.

_We are putting all our eggs in one basket_. Embry added helpfully.

Even though I knew the reason for it, the constant jostling and moving about to stay downwind was driving me insane.

The worst part was that Paul for some reason had decided his furry ass had to be right in front of my nose. I butted him a few time with my head to get him to freaking move, but that only seemed to encourage him. For a moment I considered bitting him in the ass.

Ewww. No way was I going to put any part of Paul into my mouth. _Hey Jake tell Sam he is about to lose a pack member if he does not get his ass out of my face._

Jake chuckled for a moment, but much to my relief he send the message along. Paul stopped trying to rub his ass in my nose. Personal hygiene was not one of his strong suits.

Jake stayed with us off and on but he was getting fidgety too. He was too far away from Nessie, he would never make it if someone tried to attack her.

_I am going to go stand up front with the vampires._ He said seconds before he loped off to stand next to Bella who was holding Nessie, not that it lasted long. Edward pointed out that he was out in the open. Jake finally found the closest bush to his mate and tried to make himself as small as possible.

There was one major benefit to Jake standing with the vampires. Our view of what was going on got a lot better. Not that there was anything to see, just a bunch of vampires waiting for their death.

All of a sudden Edward looked to the north. Jake could not see anything in that direction when he tried. But maybe Edward was only hearing their thoughts, according to Jake he could hear thoughts of people before he could necessarily see them.

A few moments later Jake saw them, flowing out of the trees into the clearing. The Volturi. The big mass of them had dark cloaks and hoods covering their pale faces. The smoothness with which they moved was extremely disconcerting.

For a moment I tried comparing this to my memories of how the newborn army had moved. They had come like a mob, plowing through the trees with only a primitive goal. Kill. These guys had the same goal, kill, but they were going to play some games first. They moved like one entity, a river of darkness that was drowning out the white of the snow. It also felt like they were somehow displacing all the sunlight that had been streaming down onto the clearing. Even my usually optimistic brother could not think of anything good about their appearance.

Jake heard some muttering from the vampires that had chosen to stand with the Cullens. A general theme of pessimism seemed to blanket their words.

"The wives," one of our leeches said.

_The leeches have wives?_ Embry was as surprised as I was. Maybe that would be a weakness, someplace we could hit them.

"The entire guard," the same vampire commented. I should have learned the names of the vampires who were technically our allies. But all I needed to know was their scents, those were the asses I was not supposed to take chunks out of. From the looks of it I would have plenty to choose from that were not our allies.

As the mass advanced forward some of the center ones with even darker cloaks moved out and started for the front of the procession.

That was when we noticed the rest of them. Even more vampires were moving out of the woods. We stood absolutely no chance, I swallowed the small whimper that almost escaped my throat. These new ones were not cloaked, they seemed curious and expectant. They almost looked like spectators.

_Like they are waiting to watch the show._ Quil observed, bitterness overtaking his thoughts.

"Alistair was right," Edward murmured.

_What the fuck was Alistair right about?_ Embry was getting pissed. I heartily agreed with the sentiment. Jake was too distracted by the horde of vampires in front of him to pay attention to us.

"They - Caius and Aro - come to destroy and acquire." Edward went on further to explain how they planned to take us down. I twitched, itching to rip a throat out. Maybe I should have found a blowtorch somewhere. Even if I could rip these guys apart their buddies would just piece them together.

_A blowtorch would have been cool_. Seth's unexpected thoughts egged on my fantasies.

_ Everyone move out into the clearing on the count of three._ Jake ordered.

_One, two, move up_.

En masse the werewolves make their presence known. I could almost see the entire vampire crowd on the other side of the field take a mental step back.

_Yeah baby we are badass, you want some of this_. Embry gave his best wolfy grin to the crowd.

_Hey Embry cut it out or I might ask Sam to trade you for Paul. _I tried to shove him a little to get him to take this seriously. Fortunately for us he looked more menacing than happy when smiling in wolf form so maybe the guys on the other side would think he was growling.

I was tempted to take a bite out of his flank as he shoved me back with a playful yip. Surely it could not be as nasty as Paul's?

"They have never been outnumbered before. That is what stopped them." Edward murmured quietly.

Outnumbered? They considered this outnumbered. One of the vampires standing next to Edward echoed my sentiment.

The fact that they had paused was a good thing, that had been a crucial factor of the plan. Getting the window of opportunity to plead our case.

Carlisle began to speak in a welcoming voice. I don't know how he did it, how could he possibly his tone sound so cordial, I would have been telling them to go fuck themselves.

The word games began, the Volturi sounded so perfectly amiable. Like they were just meeting for tea, Carlisle's british accent came out more strongly adding to the illusion of afternoon tea in a small garden. I had never heard him use that accent before, it might have been because of the stress of the situation.

The accusations begin to fly, I could see through Jake's eyes how greedy and curious one of them looked. The other two of the trio that appeared to be in charge looked utterly bored, but I could see their blood red eyes shifting around. The boredom was just a facade, they were searching around for a weakness in our armor. I guess they did not like the fact that this was not going to be as easy a battle as they had originally anticipated.

I stood there trying to look as menacing as possible when it hit me. They want what Carlisle had, they wanted Edward for his ability to read thoughts.

_ They also wanted Alice for her ability to see the future._ Seth added, they would probably want Jasper too but not as much as Alice. _Did you see them searching the crowd for her? They are stupid, they do not understand where the true strength of the Cullens lie._

_The fact that they are a family. _It had taken me a while but I realized that is what made them work. They were part of a family and even though they had disagreements they always stuck together. I got the impression that while the three leaders stuck together it was because of their mutual powers, if things got bad they would not hesitate to betray each other.

_ Kind of makes you wonder about Alice leaving, she probably has some rescue mission up her tiny sleeves._ Seth observed.

_Bella is her best friend, it was kind of strange for her to just up and leave_. Jake added, finally paying attention to our mental conversation.

I felt a bubble of hope, maybe this thing was not as bad as I imagined it to be. Then I looked up at the sea of vampires facing our much smaller gorup. Actually it was much, much worse.

"Where is the informer? Let her come forward." one of the leeches, Caius I think is what Carlisle had called him, searched around.

I saw a leech hiding behind the others. Her eyes were not the blood red like the rest of them. They were the golden color of the abstaining vampires. This must have been the woman who started all this, Irina. The one whose boyfriend the pack had killed last spring.

We were totally justified in that, he was trying to kill Bella. I guess Irina had not seen it that way. Thanks to that bitch and her boy that was not able to keep his fangs to himself we now had to face a huge hoard of vampires.

Caius just walked over to her and slapped her. I must say we were all shocked at the casual and unprovoked violence. Her two sisters, Tanya and Kate, the ones standing next to Bella hissed. I could not blame them, even Jake who had every reason for hating this woman was taken aback.

Caius was not pleased with her for some reason. I guess she was not speaking fast enough?

_ She is not certain about Nessie being the child she saw. _Jake made the connection for us.

That made sense, if Nessie had been an immortal child she should not have changed and Irina would have been able to easily identify her. However with her accelerated growth rate Nessie had gotten much bigger.

There was a small discussion, and one of the leaders called Edward forward - his hand extended waiting for Edward to touch him. The expression on his face was one of pure unadulterated greed.

_ That must be the leech that can read all the thoughts you have ever had simply by touching you._ Jake informed us. Holy shit that was freaky, talk about the ultimate mind rape. I would take Edwards ability any day, at least you could hide your thoughts from him.

Edward leaned down, quickly kissing Bella and Nessie before he started striding across the field, his movements were slow and measured.

He had not taken half a dozen steps when we heard a strange sound.

_ Was that horses?_

_I don't know Quil, maybe._ Seth was as confused as the rest of us.

Edward stopped in the middle of a step, and went utterly still. He was staring at the western portion of the clearing, we all were since that is where the noises had come from.

The crowd of spectators the Volturi had brought let out a murmur in surprise, they were starting to get a little nervous. The wanted the show they had been promised, the theater of watching this family get torn apart.

Three figures emerged out of the woods. They were covered from head to toe with a thick grayish cloth. There was not an inch of skin visible, they had long baggy grey pants, with a loose tunic over their torsos, and thick grey boots and gloves. They also wore the obligatory cloak that was required to attend this party, it too was grey.

Their faces was what made the hair really stand up on my back. Their faces were not visible, their heads underneath the hood of their cloaks were covered with bands of the same cloth that made up their clothing. It was wrapped around their eyes, mouth, and nose; they almost looked like the mummies you see in horror films. The only break in the grey motif of their clothing was the dark bands of leather crisscrossing their chests, these held the large swords strapped to their backs.

The memory of the swords hanging in the study at the cabin came to mind. But these were nothing like those delicate weapons. These things were huge, more like clubs than swords. I wondered how much strength it took to swing those things around, I did not think a human would be strong enough.

_I don't think they are human_, Seth pointed out quietly as his thoughts ran parallel to mine.

Their movements were somewhat jerky, a startling contrast to the graceful pageantry of the vampires. They were not all the same size either, two were about the same height, the one in the middle was a head or so taller.

All of a sudden they came to a jerky stop, and just froze. That was when the wind shifted and we smelled them. The putrid smell of death and decay that was emanating from those things was awful.

_ Holy shit, what is that? _Embry thought.

_I don't know but I sure as heck don't want to see them use those swords._ Seth added, his thoughts seemed to reflect the confusion of the rest of us. _Maybe they will use it on the Volturi. _My ever optimistic brother would always see the best of things.

I could not seem to take my eyes off of those things but Jake spent a fraction of a moment to quickly glance at the Volturi, to see what they thought of the newest guests.

The two in the back had lost the placid and almost bored looks, instead there was stark fear in their eyes. The one in the front was still staring at Edward with avarice in his eyes.

_Whose side are they on? And what are they? _Jake was getting the right idea, we needed to know their allegiance.

I was starting to get really freaked out, who the fuck was bad ass enough to make the Volturi look like they were about to pee in their pants.

"The guardians," I heard Edward whisper.

_What are the guardians?_ I had certainly never heard of them.

That was when we heard the horses again, this time much closer. From the confused look of the rest of the Cullens they did not know what these things were. Edward must have figured out their names from reading the Volturi's minds.

The underbrush parted again and something bigger came out. It was two figures on horseback.

It seemed that the entire pack saw them at the same time because we all started cursing at the same time.

_ What the hell!_

_Holy Shit!_

_Mother Fucker!_

Yeah as a group we were certainly an eloquent bunch, but I would challenge anyone to come up with a coherent sentence just after seeing these things. I had thought the three head vampires of the Volturi were bad, with the falling apart rocky look, but they were nothing compared to these things.

I had never seen anything that old, they were wearing dresses so I assumed they were female. It was like seeing the human skeleton with a loose glob of skin poured on it. To say they looked old was an understatement, they looked like they should have been in the grave a good fifty years ago. Chunks of skin on top of their head were showing on account of the fact that patches of their hair was missing, but the other parts were flowing down their backs almost to the hem of their dresses.

The dresses were old looking, medieval, not that I knew much about the fashion of those times. One was wearing an elaborate deep blue dress, with silver trim, the other one was in green with gold trim. Both had on matching purple cloaks.

_ Wow that kind of clashes, maybe someone ought to go give them some fashion advice. _

I felt Jake mentally roll his eyes at me.

The three hooded ones started to move again until they were standing about a yard away from Edward, in the middle of the field. I had to hand it to Edward, he did not flinch or step back as they approached - unlike the spectators who I noticed had started to disappear from the crowd behind the Volturi.

The two horses continued their journey, the old women riding them looked like they were going to fall off at any moment. There were several times where one or the other teetered precariously, fortunately they seemed to right themselves before they could plunge out of the side saddle. From the looks of things that small fall would have probably killed them.

One of the creatures, the one in the blue dress, made a weak sound of displeasure as it surveyed the Volturi army. It did not even bother looking our way, I guess we did not rate as important enough to notice. I was cool with that, don't mind us just go on about your business as usual - hopefully that involved thinning the Volturi numbers.

"Salve," blue dress greeted the Volturi crowd in a barely audible voice.

"Greetings Berenike, Metrodora" Only the one in the front spoke but all three Volturi bowed deferentially. "Such pleasure that we meet again." His tone sounded like he actually meant it.

I somehow doubted that.

"Ah you are using this new language," the one in the blue dress said. Was she the one in charge? Was that why she was doing the talking? "It is too hard to keep up with these new languages, they change before you can learn them properly." Her voice was as weak as her body looked.

There was more noise coming from where they had entered. Another horse came crashing through, this one only carried an empty saddle.

Green dress gave a hiss of displeasure, and flicked out her hand. Almost instantly one of the grey hooded things disappeared. The freakiest part is that it did not move at vampire speed, we would have been able to see that. It was almost like it just vanished into thin air, a moment later it reappeared with a large bundle in his arms, this one was wearing a red dress and of course the purple cloak.

"Get your stinking hands off of me," a new voice commanded, this one was stronger than those of the other woman. We all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when the grey one flipped her over and set her on her feet, the newest addition was not one of the walking dead. We could not see her face on the account of the fact that her long dark hair was covering it but based on the shape of her body she looked young.

_ She is young, you can tell by the fact that all her skin is still attached to her body._ Embry suggested helpfully.

The new one pushed her long dark locks of hair away from her face and looked around with large emerald green eyes. Upon seeing the green eyes I was reminded of the woman from my dreams, but no they were not the same. Those eyes had been a lighter color and had given the impression of camaraderie.

The dress she was wearing was a little too big for her and she kept fidgeting with it, pulling it back up before something vital could pop out.

_ I would not mind seeing that._

The rest of the pack all pulled back in disgust. _Embry, you too must have gotten dropped on the head a lot as a kid. Did you have had the same babysitter as Seth?_

_What? She is hot! _He protested vehemently, still thinking she looked sexy.

I could not think of anything to explain to him how disgusting he was so instead I paid attention to the scene in front of me.

"And who might this be?" one of Volturi leeches asked. The curious one, he had finally looked away from Edward. The creep was now assessing the newest addition to this party, it was obvious he was trying to figure out if he wanted to add her to his collection or not.

"I am Melissa and who is asking?" She grabbed her dress and made her way over to the leech that had asked the question. She tried her best to look down at the vampire assessing her, but she was too short and it also did not help that she tripped twice on the short walk over to him.

"She is in training, you must forgive her poor manners Aro," blue dress said.

"Berenike, I did not realize you had picked up an apprentice," Aro replied curiosity in his voice, his words identifying blue dress as Berenike.

"It is not working out as well as anticipated." she replied with clear displeasure. "But speaking of poor manners, you came all the way from Italy bringing all your family and guard. Yet you did not bother to contact us about your upcoming visit." The voice sounded weak but the underlying threat was hard to miss. They did not like the fact that the Volturi were here.

_ Sounds like the evil fairy godmother is pissed about not getting an invitation to the party_. Seth added.

"We did not have time for the niceties, this is an emergency and time was short." Aro explained politely.

"Time is the only thing that we have an abundance of. And there is always time for good manners." Metrodora spoke. I did not think it possible but her voice sounded weaker than the other one's.

"Indeed, so you came all this way without sending a note and to make things worse you brought an army. May I ask what is the meaning of this?" Berenike continued.

"We are just taking care of a problem. Simply fulfilling the duty that you assigned to us." Aro said in an ingratiating tone.

There was a harrumph of disbelief from Berenike but it was Metrodora who spoke. "We helped you overthrow those fools over there," she pointed at a couple of vampires glaring at them from the edge, "so that you may bring a little more civility to your kind. We also asked you to help maintain the secret of the vampire world. Which one of those are you fulfilling here?"

"The most important one of course, keeping our existence a secret." Aro said with great authority.

"How is your secret in danger here?" Metrodora asked, she sounded genuinely confused. _Yeah right. _"Other than the glaringly obvious issue. Such a large group of your kind will surely draw notice."

"This group of vampires have created an immortal child." Caius pointed in our general direction.

"If I may speak..." Carlisle asked quietly.

"You will speak only when spoken to," Berenike cut him off harshly before he could mount any sort of defense. "Now I wish to know why an army is in my territory."

"We heard rumors of an immortal child, a witness came to us with evidence of such an egregious disregard for the rules. Step forward witness." Caius added trying to regain the ground they had been swiftly losing.

Cauis took a step towards Irina, she cringed for a fraction of a second before she went to stand in front of the horses.

"Well speak," Berenike prodded, her voice sounding impatient.

"I thought I saw an immortal child but I am not certain anymore." Irina said in a quiet voice trying to look as small as possible.

Metrodora made a noise, it sounded like she was choking but it might have been a laugh. "This is your witness? This is a reason you decided to invade us with no warning?"

"Carlisle you have broken the one rule of our kind. I must admit I am surprised at this, out of all the vampires you are the last one we expected to do this." Caius spoke trying to change the conversation away from the fact that they had annoyed the guardians.

"If you would listen I have not broken any rules." Carlisle pleaded quietly.

"What rule has he broken?" Metrodora asked cutting off anything that Carlisle could have possibly said.

"We have already explained, he created a immortal child." Aro pointed out the obvious.

"Really what makes you say that? Your witness seemed not to be so sure. Has anyone else seen this immortal child?" Metrodora looked around expectantly.

"Why there she is." Aro said pointing to where Bella was holding Nessie. I could almost detect a note of frustration in his expression but it was quickly erased.

"What? That young child? Are you getting stupid or are you just this incompetent. Anyone can tell that child is not an immortal, she is a hybrid." Metrodora said with a scoff and a wave of her skeletal hands.

_Oh shit did she just put Aro in his place, this is freaking awesome._ Embry was getting excited, but so were the rest of us. It looked like the guardians were going to make the arguments on behalf of Carlisle.

Aro's eyes narrowed at the insult but he perked up when he heard the last word. "Hybrid?"

"You surely know about the hybrids? One of you kind has been playing with them for centuries." Berenike looked down at Aro with a sneer.

_ Woaw you mean there are more Nessies out there in the world? _Seth thought loudly.

"It is trickery," one of the other leeches said. "They are trying to fool us."

"So you have not heard of hybrids. How do you expect to be a good ruler when you don't even know what your people are doing?" Metrodora tisked.

"There is a, what is it that he calls himself...?" Berenike asked.

"A scientist, he resides in South America. He goes around impregnating human woman with his seed. A month or so later if she survives long enough the hybrid child rips through it's mother's abdomen and goes on its merry way." Metrodora finished with a smile, the rest of her body might be decaying but her teeth were perfect and white.

_ That psycho smile is kind of freaking me out here, _Seth thought with a shudder.

The Volturi leeches tried to back off now, and started to blame Irina for their swift invasion instead of admitting their greed. The guardians, as Edward had called them did not seem to take very well to this idea.

I am not sure how it happened but all of a sudden the leeches came to the conclusion that the only way to fix the problem was to execute Irina. They were throwing words like "bearing false witness" around. Irina's sister had gotten to the point where all they could do was hiss.

"One moment, if you are going to dispose of her anyway we would like to keep her instead. We have not had the ability to play with one who abstains from human blood. We would like the opportunity to do this, the human drinkers tend to be a little too aggressive when captured." Berenike interrupted before the execution of Irina could take place.

"Of course, she could be a gift, if you would just forgive your most humble friends for our intrusion." Aro said with a calculated smile.

"You may proceed with the rest of your trial then," Berenike graciously allowed. Irina was bid to sit down at the feet of the grey cloaked ones, so that she could be taken away by the guardians when this was all over. I could tell her sisters were itching to run over there and grab her. The vampires on our side were using both words and their strength to prevent them from doing that.

_ I don't know, it might have been merciful to let die at the hands of the Volturi_, Quil observed. The rest of us agreed with him, we did not want to know what they were going to do to her, but we knew it would not be pretty.

"We had not heard of this scientist, but we will investigate," Aro spoke too slowly for a vampire, he must be trying to get some time to think. He was still trying to figure out how to get a foothold, how to get his edge back - he wanted Edward to join his guard. The spectators in the back were getting a little worried as well, this had not turned out as they expected.

Aro looked over at us and I could almost see the lightbulb go off in his head. He turned away from the guardians and looked at Carlisle.

"Carlisle my friend you really do break our hearts associating with our enemy?" Aro pointed out, sounding almost forlorn. The shift in topics was somewhat abrupt, but he must be getting desperate and was not his usual smooth talking self.

"What enemy would that be?" Carlisle asked in a curious voice, though he surely knew the answer.

"The werewolves of course." Caius clarified waving his hand in our general direction a look hatred on his face. "Though it makes me wonder what they are doing shifted during the day."

It was Berenike that answered before Carlisle could actually say anything. "Are you really this ignorant? First you mistake a hybrid for an immortal child next, you mistake a shapeshifter for a werewolf."

"We are starting to question whether we made the right choice when giving you the responsibility of keeping the vampires' existence a secret." Metrodora added, her voice thick with disgust.

Aro's eyes flashed away from us and back to the prize he wanted, he was looking at Edward the way a child looks at a toy their parents refuse to buy - in this case I think Edward was the toy he wanted but he could see that mommy dearest was determined to say no to him. "My darlings it looks like our friend may have become our enemy. We are outnumbered..." Aro looked back at the group behind him.

The guard answered almost as one voice, "we will die to protect you master as well as protect the rules."

"Do you know the old saying Aro. The one about the snake?" Berenike asked in a friendly manner interrupting the pep session Aro was trying to give to his army.

"There are many sayings about a snake." Caius pointed out in a bored tone.

"When fighting a snake there is no need to keep poking him all over, you just cut off its head to kill it." Metrodora said with a small smile, showing off her freakishly perfect teeth.

The grey ones disappeared once again, only to appear right behind the three heads of the Volturi. Their swords were out, poised over the heads of the leeches, one swing and they would lose their heads.

And my wolf pack, myself included, went through another round of cursing. Holy shit if those things ever decided to attack us we did not stand a chance.

_I wonder if those swords could cut though a vampire's skin?_ Jake wondered as we watched the power play in front of us.

_You would think the guardians knew what they were doing,_ I suggested in response to his question. Plus it also helped that the three Volturi leaders looked like they were about to shit their pants.

"Now are we going to talk about this like civilized individuals or do we have to degrade ourselves and use brute force?" Berenike's tone was one of anticipation.

"Oh I like that plan," Melissa finally added. She had been alternating between trying to catch her horse and the bust line of her dress. But now she walked to stand in between the two old women's horses. We looked at her and watched in abject horror as all of a sudden her right hand burst into flame. She started throwing a little glob of fire up and down like she was playing with a small ball. Her smile was not friendly by any means.

_ Dang it why can't we have such powers. _Embry thought. _And I don't care what you say, she is so hot she is on fire_. Embry felt proud of his little joke.

_It would come in mighty handy_, Quil added.

"Now let me see, they did not create an immortal child, and they did not associate with werewolves. So what did they do?" Metrodora asked, she pretended to be completely oblivious to the fact that her minions were getting ready to do some heavy duty chopping and burning. "Oh yes now I remember, they took care of that little newborn army problem for you."

"A few months ago a vampire decided to create a newborn army to seek revenge for her mate's death. You did a very good job of sending members of your guard to Seattle to asses the situation. But what did they do? Did they eliminate the problem? They talked to the woman who was creating the army and then they simply let her go back to making more newborns. The army proceeded to this place where someone else took care of the problem for you." Berenike was a little out of breath at the end of this speech, but the implications were obvious.

These things were not lost on the vampires the Volturi had brought with them, there were instant murmurs among the crowd. They had not know about that little part had they?

_Oh noes, someone is in trouble_. I could hear the glee in Embry's thoughts.

"We told you that the only duty you have is to keep the humans from finding out and yet you are the one who is being the most conspicuous." Metrodora added.

"This Carlisle is capable of taking down a newborn army, he is capable of moving through the human world without drawing attention to what he is, and he also seems good at gathering followers. If you are not careful we may have to replace you with him." Berenike added, the threat was not subtle this time.

There was a murmur through the crowd of spectators, some were of approval. I was going to hazard a guess that they did not know all this was accomplished without killing humans. That was the major strength as well as weakness of the Cullen family.

"How he lives is unnatural," Caius said with disgust.

"Well your natural ways have just caused a great deal of trouble for you. This incompetence is astonishing. Do you not know?" Berenike asked in a shocked tone.

"Apparently he does not read the newspaper." Metrodora answered the question. "You may want to head home and deal with the fact that the leftovers from your meals were just found by the humans."

"There is a lot of media involved. Something to do with a body being identified as a French diplomat's daughter. You might be a little more careful in picking your snacks." Berenike continued before the leeches could say.

Another murmur went through the crowd. This time it had a little more worried tone. Avoiding exposure was almost ingrained in the vampire psyche and to know that their leaders were flaunting their own rules was disconcerting.

"Let us make our expectations clear, go home clean up the mess you have created. I will make the kind suggestion, you do not want us to have to go clean up after your incompetence. As for this group behind me - they are the future of your kind. They can live amongst the humans without detection. You with this indiscriminate butchering are starting to be a thing of the past." Berenike continued her speech.

"We give our protection to these golden eyed ones, we are curious as to see how they will turn out." Metrodora added.

"But the child is still an unknown, she could betray our kind." Caius added, but even I could see how rattled he was. They were grasping at straws.

We could actually make it out of this alive. My future was a possibility, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Where the hell had I put the papers with my dorm information?

"We are starting to be a little tired of this constant display of ignorance. We have encountered other children like her, they age quickly until they reach their peak, they eat food or drink blood. They are no more likely to betray vampires than another one of your kind. In fact they are less likely to do so since they have many human traits you do not." Berenike's voice was starting to be a little condescending, not that I blamed her. If you did not know that this was all for show, in order to acquire some talented vampires, then the Volturi's actions seem foolish.

Before we knew it the Volturi and the guardians went through some less than gracious goodbyes. The gray cloaked ones finally were ordered to back down from the Volturi and instead stood behind the guardians.

My elation at seeing the Volturi leave was dampened by the fact that the guardians were still here.

"Let us go home," Berenike said quietly, steering her horse back towards the woods.

One of the grey hooded ones grabbed Irina by the arm and started dragging her behind them. The vampire looked too much in shock to fight back, I would have been scared shitless as well.

"Wait, please." Carlisle said, interrupting their departure.

"What is it that you want? Just because we did not let those Volturi fools kill you does not mean we will not do so." Berenike did not look pleased at being stopped.

_ What the fuck is Carlisle doing, they were leaving. That is a good thing._ Quil thought, and I had to agree with him.

_He is trying to save her_. Seth explained to us, he was much better at this unselfish thing than we were. Carlisle was pleading for the woman who had endangered his entire family. I knew sure as heck I could never have done anything that altruistic.

"Is there any way to save her life, she just made a mistake. There is no reason for her to die." Carlisle was trying to negotiate for Irina's life.

"We do not do favors for nothing, what will you give us in return for this things's life?" Metrodora asked in a cool voice.

"What is it that I have that I could give you in return?" Carlisle said looking around. Even I knew that was a foolish question to ask. It was too open ended, they could ask for anything.

"You have your life." Berenike pointed out in a detached tone.

"No," Esme hissed, but her husband put a hand on her arm to stop her from jumping at Berenike.

We all watched Carlisle, it did not take him a second to decide. "All right, my life for hers."

"Do not concern yourself too much, we will return him to you eventually." Berenike said as Carlisle followed them away.

* * *

A/N: Am I putting these chapters out too quickly? I promise there will be another one and then it will stop for a while. I don't like the order of things so I am doing a major rewrite of the next few chapters. Next up will be Carlisle's view of things.

Ms Animegoddess: I promise that that this update speed is totally out of character for me, I woke up too early so I drank to much caffeine. So hyper, and so excited about getting to the next part. We will see how well that part works out. :D. You gotta know Phil does not give up so easily, he will not let his Princess push him away.

Toshii519: Soon, soon all will be revealed. In a couple of chapters we might meet her stalkers. Insert evil laugh here.

Coonect2jtb: About that epiphany or discovering love, Leah is still a little gun shy about relationships. I want her to find herself, to be her own person.


	17. The Test

16 - The test

_**Carlisle**_

I followed the horses through the woods not really looking at where I was going. Instead I was worrying about my family, I was hoping they would not do anything foolish like trying to rescue me. Berenike had told them I would not be killed.

The young girl seemed to have trouble staying in the saddle and nearly fell off several times. Other than her curses nothing broke the erie silence of the woods, it was like the animals knew what was moving around in the woods today and had decided that it would be safer to go into hiding. We had gone in a different direction of the Volturi, the guardians appeared to be avoiding the paths the other vampires would take to leave.

I had not looked back at my family as I left, it would have been too hard. Despite the reassurances that this would not mean my death I was of course very afraid. What would Esme do, but surely she understood why I had offered my life for Irina's.

I watched as Melissa tottered and fell off the horse landing in a big heap of skirts. I swiftly walked over to her and offered my arm to help her up.

She wrapped her hand around my forearm, and looked up at me. "Some conversations are meant to be private Edward." Her hand seemed to get warmer for a moment.

"We are alone now." She said quietly to the people around is.

That is when I looked around me, the old women on the horses were gone replaced by young women that looked to be at their peaks of health. The grey cloaked ones had removed the bandages from around their faces revealing somewhat sweaty looking faces. But they were very much alive, I could see the blood flowing underneath their flushed cheeks.

"I do not understand." I was unable to process anymore.

"Congratulations Carlisle, you passed the test." Melissa told me with a friendly smile.

"So this was a test to prove myself to you?" I was getting upset. I hurt my family to play their little game.

"Not at all, we already knew what you are capable of." Berenike said in a much stronger voice than she had used before, she too was smiling at me. Her brown eyes were shinning in her slightly tanned face, her hair now looked thick and brown as it flowed down her back.

"This was done so that you would understand the lengths you would go to in order to take care of your family." A new voice gave this explanation, one that was familiar to me. A tall man stepped out from behind the trees, it took me a moment to recognize who he was. The eyes were the wrong color, instead of the plain brown eyes that I expected they were a pale green.

"We should have pursued our investigation of you a little further," I told him.

"You would not have found anything," Leah's Phil told me in a cool voice. "I have been pretending to be human for far longer than you."

* * *

A/N: All right that was short. Now I am off to tackle the explanation of all this. Though that might have to wait for another day, ten hours of writing has kind of drained my brain - plus the caffeine has worn off.


	18. One Last Surprise

17- One Last Surprise

We watched the procession leave the same way it had come, the old women on the horses left first. Melissa looked like she got lucky and she finally caught her horse long enough to get on. Based on her already precarious hold she would probably not be able to stay on long. Carlisle walked right next to her, you could see him getting ready to catch her in case she fell.

_He is going to face god only knows what and he is still looking out for his enemy. Typical Carlisle._ Jake's thoughts echoed our own.

Unlike Edward I could not read minds, but it was obvious from the looks on the faces of the vampires surrounding us that they too were stunned by the newest development. My entire pack was still reeling from the fact that we had lost Carlisle.

The mummies or zombies or whatever the heck they were followed slowly behind Carlisle - their jerky movements even more noticeable next to the smooth stride of the vampire.

_Look how freaking tall they are_, Embry commented in his mind. Next to the mummies, Carlisle looked almost short. _I would not want to pick a fight with them. _

As they all finally disappeared into the woods, we looked around at a loss. Irina, the vampire who Carlisle had just sacrificed himself for had not moved from where the guardians had left her. Her "sisters" swiftly ran over and picked her up off the ground. She had just been sitting there in the snow, with a blank expression on her face. I had not realized that vampires could go into shock.

All the vampires left in the small field started fidgeting, probably anxious to get away. They had come to see the Volturi but they had not counted on the Guardians, whoever the hell they may be. They wanted to go away before those walking corpses came back, I did not blame them. I wanted to leave too, but I had obligations. We had come too far to abandon our duties.

"You may leave at any time." Edward said in a cool voice. "Thank you for your aid and support." It did not take a mindreader at this point to guess what they were thinking, but Edward seemed to be the only one of the Cullen family who was not otherwise occupied.

Rosalie and Bella had their arms wrapped around Esme trying to comfort her, I did not think they were being very successful. Emmett was trying to awkwardly pat her on the back while looking around for anyone to help him. If there was ever a need for what a picture of absolute devastation looks like, Esme would have been a perfect candidate. Jake was considering phasing and taking Nessie away from her father, who was holding the little half-vampire.

There were a few subdued murmurs from the group of vampires that had come to stand with the Cullens as they tried to decide what to do. They did not linger for long, after a moment of hesitation they too disappeared at full vampire speed. A human would not have been able to see their escape.

_ Notice they are going the opposite direction of the zombies_. Embry noted.

_Yeah the cowards, but do you really blame them?_ Quil added. _Just the smell alone is scary._

The vampire allies were gone now, there was only the Cullen family and the werewolves. We turned back to Edward who was concentrating.

_He must be listening to the thoughts of Carlisle as he is taken away. _Seth moved over to Edward and nudged his hand as an offer of comfort and support.

"What do you hear?" Esme asked in the quietest voice possible. Bella and Rosalie held her closer murmuring false reassurances. But what could you really say in a situation like this?

"He was following them through the wood, worrying about us. And then absolutely nothing." Edward reported in a frustrated voice.

"They..." Esme was unable to finish the sentence, but we all knew what she was afraid of - that they killed him.

_Not Carlisle, he was the best._ Seth thought with a great deal of sadness.

_ Yeah I could almost tolerate that leech._ Embry agreed.

"No... " Edward was quick to reassure everyone. "I do not think they hurt him, the Melissa girl said something before touching him and it was like a block went up. Sort of like Bella's shield." The vexation was evident in Edward's tone.

_Yeah that would be a good plan, get them out of here._ Jake was talking to Sam, telling him to get the young wolves back home. _We will stay with the Cullens to see what happens._

Sam quickly took his pack away, the younger ones were getting confused, they had been all keyed up for a fight that did not happen.

The fight had happened but it had all been word games, something the younger ones were having a hard time understanding. Needless to say Sam was having trouble controlling them now that the crisis was over.

"She said something strange, the Melissa girl. Her words were, some conversations are meant to be private - and then she said my name." Edwards was starting to look confused.

"Like she was talking to you? Like she knew you were listening?" Emmet finally said something.

"She used the word conversation, that means talking not harming." Bella added, her voice was filled with hope.

"Yes... talking is good." Edward agreed.

_ People's definition of conversation can differ._ Some preferred to talk with their fists, I added in my mind.

I saw Edward flinch, I guess he had heard my thoughts.

"We could try following them." Emmet suggested.

_Yeah, let us just follow the trail. It is really hard to miss that stench._ Embry jumped around, ready to do something. The inactivity was driving him insane, he had not been able to fight and now he had a great deal of nervous energy that needed an outlet.

Edward looked up all of a sudden. "Wait." He almost had a smile on his face, I had not seen that in almost a month. Not since we found out the Volturi were coming. "Alice."

Alice had come back, a murmur of happiness went through the Cullen family, but they were still very subdued.

_I told you she would not abandon the others, they are a family._ My brother reminded us. I was surprised at the smugness of his tone, he really liked being able to say I told you so.

* * *

A few hours later we were all sitting around the living room in the Cullens' house exchanging stories. Alice and Jasper had gone on a wild goose chase to try to find another vampire hybrid like Nessie, they had not known where to look. The only clue they had was the wholes in Alice's vision, it turned out she could not see anyone that was not human or vampire.

They had located what they were looking for somewhere in South America. Alice and Jasper had brought with them another vampire human hybrid, it turned out he was over one hundred years old. It is hard to describe how relieved Jake had been to learn that Nessie would eventually stop aging. The reason for their abrupt departure was so that Aro could not read the plan from Edwards mind.

"That had been somewhat pointless, Aro never got to touch me." Edward pointed out.

"I did not get to see that, the guardians must not be human." Alice said with a great deal of displeasure. It must really bother her being rendered blind.

"They are definitely other." Emmett said with a laugh, he was the only one who could possibly laugh in a situation like this.

We had tried to see which way the Guardians had taken Carlisle. Embry had gone with Emmett and Jasper follow the trail. They came back with no new information.

"It is strange, how they just up and disappeared in one spot." Jasper pointed out. "Almost like they vanished into thin air. I would understand if we lost them when they crossed a stream or river, but they disappeared in the middle of the woods."

"The strange part is even the tracks of the horses stopped." Embry added. We were all human now, it made communication easier between us and the vampires. Plus the less sensitive human nose made it easier to tolerate being in a confined place with all these vampires.

"That was the place where I was cut off from seeing Carlisle's thoughts." Edward had a puzzled expression on his face. He did not like mysteries.

"Maybe they are aliens and went back to the mothership," Emmett suggested with a loud laugh. We all ignored his comment, it would be best not to encourage him.

"So what are these Guardians?" Alice asked. She was sitting next to Esme, trying to console her. She had taken over Rosalie's spot for the moment in trying to comfort Esme.

"The Volturi don't exactly know. A few millennia ago they met a much younger version of the two. It was the Guardian's patronage that allowed the Volturi to take power." Edward explained with a frown on his face.

"Wait, these women gave the Volturi their power?" Jake asked with absolute disgust. I was going to agree on this one, who in their right mind would give those creeps power?

"More like they supported their campaign." Edward said after a pause. "Things were a lot less civilized at that time, I think it was the Guardians who actually made up the rule of don't expose yourself to humans. They bid the Volturi to be the ones to enforce the rule." Edward continued. "I could not get a read on the Guardians' minds and the Volturi's minds did not offer much information. All I could learn is thatthe Voluri are afraid of them."

"What is their power? They looked pretty pathetic to me." Quil said when Edward paused.

"It is those things in grey that follow them around, the Volturi think they are former humans." Edward was having a hard time explaining.

"Cool I was right, they are zombies." Embry interrupted, Edward gave him a dirty look before continuing.

"Something like that, it seems that they reanimate them. The Guardians have the ability to manipulate their movements, sort of like puppeteers. They also are able to resist Jane's mental abilities and mine as well. I could not hear anything from the grey things or the woman. Even that scatterbrained Melissa's mind was completely silent." Edward added, this not being able to read people was really getting to him.

"Well I cannot see them either, and neither can I see Carlisle's future, it is a big blank." Alice complained rubbing her forehead like she was getting a headache.

"We should grab something to eat," Jake added as the conversation waned.

I got up and hauled my sorry carcass to the kitchen in order to make myself a sandwich, my stomach grumbled to remind me that I had not eaten in over twenty four hours. I started to yawn while stacking the sliced meat and cheese on my bread. I dragged my sandwich back to the living room.

The half-breed vampire that Alice had brought back along with his aunt had decided to stay with the Cullen family to see if anything could be done. During our dinner preparations Bella managed to convince them to go stay in her cottage. The half-breed still needed sleep and was happy to call it a day. Alice offered to escort them there, Jasper and Emmett went with her.

"That is a few less stinky leeches to ruin my dinner," Embry muttered under his breath.

There were not enough chairs and I sure as hell was not going to sit next to a vamp so I took my plate and sat down with the wall at my back. I heaved a large sigh of relief, my body was both sore and tired beyond comprehension. The month of worry, stress, and just general lack of sleep was finally starting to catch up with me. I had pretty much survived on adrenaline for the past few weeks and now that the danger had passed I was going to crash - big time. My only hope was that I would make it long enough to be able to go home, but no decision had been made as to what we were going to do about Carlisle. Jake wanted to have some sort of plan before this party broke up. I did not care so long as I could sleep uninterrupted for the next week or so.

I had just taken the first big bite of my sandwich when there was a knock at the door. _What now? I am so not in the mood for anything else today._

"There is one set of heartbeats out there," Edward muttered under his breath. I could barely hear him even with my wolf hearing. "But I cannot hear their minds." The fact that there was someone at the door would have been enough to raise the alarm, since the Cullen house was so far off the road they did not get many random salespeople. The other more glaring concern was the fact that no one had heard this person approach the house, neither had there been a car. It was like they appeared on the front porch and knocked - so we were slightly nervous. Call me paranoid but with the way the day had gone, I would not be surprised to see a martian on the other side of the door.

It was Rosalie who finally got up to answer the knock, I started to take quick bites of my sandwich while staring at the door. If this was going to come down to a fight, it might be a while before we could eat again. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Embry had managed to swallow his entire sandwich in two bites. We really were going to have to work on his table manners, but that fight might have to wait.

In retrospect it probably looked really suspicious that we all were standing around stuffing our faces and staring at the door with great concentration, but with the way the day had gone we did not need any more surprises.

A woman stood on the other side of the door, her hand raised in a fist as she prepared to knock on the door again. Noticing that someone had finally answered, she lowered her hand and made a quick sweep of the room. Because of the open floor plan of the Cullen house she had a view of everyone in the house.

We stared at her, trying to asses her level of danger. She was almost the same height as Rosalie, maybe a little bit taller; that is where the similarities ended. She had brown hair with a variety of blonde highlights, it was currently in a thick braid that swung past her knees - a few curls had escaped and framed her soft round face. Her eyes were not visible because she was wearing sunglasses, this was completely inappropriate for this time of the day. Between the clouds that had moved in and the fact that it was winter, it was already completely dark outside.

There was something faintly familiar about her, but the more I thought about it the further it escaped me. I put down my sandwich and stood up, my mind was screaming at me to figure this out. Maybe getting a little closer to her might help me determine who she was. So I stalked over to stand next to Rosalie, who by the way she was glaring at me was not happy to have company in welcoming our newest guest.

The woman was wearing a pale green form fitting cashmere sweater with a golden belt that highlighted her narrow waist and her really big curves. Her cream colored pants were so baggy at the bottom they could have been mistaken for a skirt. High heeled black boots covered her small dainty feet. Her jacket matched her boots and the dark gloves she was wearing. She did not have the pale skin of a vampire, I finally understood what a peaches and cream complexion was. Rosy cheeks and pale pink lips, she was bursting with life. Her vitality was further enhanced by the fact that she was standing next to Rosalie, who while was a perfect looking goddess made of marble, could not compare to cheeks made pink by the cooler temperatures.

I narrowed my eyes at this perfectly dressed paragon, and standing there in my tattered jeans and tshirt decided that I did not like this woman - whoever she might be.

"Who the fuck are you?" I asked, so I was not in my most polite moods. Good thing my mother was not here or I would have earned a smack upside the head. Seriously, I needed to get some sleep as soon as possible.

"Hmmm, are you always this polite? or am I just getting the special treatment today?" She looked at me with a slight smile on her lips. Of course her voice was low and sexy. Another reason to hate her.

"You must excuse her, she is not housebroken yet. I am Rosalie and you are?" Rosalie moved over to stand next to me ignoring my glare. She put out her hand in a friendly greeting.

The stranger pulled off her gloves and shook hands with Rosalie. "I am ...well can I plead the fifth for now?" She was one of those people that spoke with their entire bodies. She flung out her hand and showed off her perfectly manicured nails, I was tempted to hide my own in the pockets of my jeans. Running around on all fours made it impossible to maintain good nails, they would constantly be broken and dirty.

Rosalie's eyes narrowed as she assessed the woman in front of her, she did not seem pleased with what she saw. While Rosalie was more perfect she did not exude the same energy as the woman.

"Nice boots, Italian?" Rosalie finally said after a moment of intense perusal.

"Thanks, actually they are Brazilian. A small cobbler in the south. A pain to get to using conventional methods but he is worth it," she looked down to admire her boots.

"Love the pants as well, that fabric is great. Looks almost like linen." Rosalie continued and I was wondering if she was smoking the vampire crack pipe. Why would she wasting time when we could be figuring out what is going on?

"She is trying to buy enough time for the rest to get back here." The woman looked at me when she spoke.

That made sense, it would be best to have everyone here to decide what to do or to fight if necessary. Then something occurred to me. "Wait a minute, did you just answer my thoughts?"

"I would not worry about waiting for your allies, if we really wanted to take you out we would have done so a while back." the woman told us in a cool voice, not answering my question. "Especially Leah over here," her lips lifting up in an amused smile.

"What?" I was getting a little angry, this little thing in her Brazilian boots and pretty pants could not compete with my wolf strength and speed. We would see how amused she would be after an ass kicking. I even took a menacing step in her direction, ready to jump her.

She heaved a sigh and lifted her sunglasses from her eyes, placing them at the fashionable spot at the top of her head. Pale green eyes stared at me, one eyebrow was lifted and I finally caught that elusive memory.

"You were the one in the woods that day, you killed those vampires." I stepped back as soon as I made this observation. If she could take down several vampires maybe she could kick my ass.

"Actually it was my partner that killed them," she gave a small shrug like it was an everyday occurrence to take down leeches. "They must have royally pissed him off because he had them all in pieces by the time I got there. My only job was to get your clothes back on."

My thoughts were flying a thousand miles a second which was pretty impressive considering how tired I was. "How did you do that? Get my clothes back together, I am pretty sure I had already phased." I wanted to ask more important questions like what the fuck she was and what the hell she wanted from me. But for a few more moments I wanted to ask mundane things, maybe I could give the others enough time to get ready to fight.

"Yes you did tear your clothes apart and my partner needed to piece them together." She was quick to answer my question but it was interesting to note that she never spoke her partner's name.

"So your partner killed the vampires and he also got my clothes back together again, what did you do?" I know I should not try to provoke an unknown ...well whatever she was. But her smile was starting to piss me off.

"Put your clothes back on for you, by the way the state of your underwear is utterly deplorable." She made disapproving noises while shaking her head.

"I will make sure next time I am wearing my good underwear for you." I told her, torn between embarrassment and anger. The little voice in the back of my head encouraged the anger, as it was far superior to shame. I was saved from whatever further comment I could have made by the arrival of Alice, Jasper and Emmett.

I could hear them approaching at vampire speed but they slowed down before they hit the tree line, probably noticing the stranger standing on the front porch.

"Who the hell are you?" Jasper asked in his calm voice, I could see him assessing the woman. Looking to for any sort of weakness, or sign of aggression. I was glad he was here, that way he could take over the interrogation.

The woman ignored his question and simply strolled into the room before sitting down daintily on the side of one couch. "Were the woods around here cleared of guests?" She looked at Jasper for verification, he did not say anything but she nodded her head like he had answered. Maybe she had read his thoughts.

"Please just what do you want? Do you know where my husband is?" Esme pulled out of her misery long enough to ask her question.

"Your husband is fine, he should be here very soon."

Several people spoke at once, but it was Jasper who acted. Instantly he was within inches of her face, growling at her.

The woman was not disturbed by the deadly vampire being so close to her, instead she titled her head to the side while she considered him, "do you really want to pick a fight with me?"

Jasper's answer was interrupted by the opening of the door, and a "Jasper please let us not fight." The new voice belonged to Carlisle. I never thought I would be that happy to see a vampire.

"Carlisle, but how?" Esme was hugging him before the words were completely out of her mouth. The questions were flowing from her mouth almost faster than I could comprehend. They all seemed to center around Carlisle's well being, at least the bits I could understand. It was kind of strange to see them acting so human even if it was at vampire speed, Esme the concerned wife and Carlisle trying to reassure her that he was unharmed.

He seemed to understand her dilemma and simply murmured consoling words into her hair. "Everything is fine, nothing is wrong. No I was not harmed."

"What happened?" Jasper had moved away from the woman and instead pulled his wife close, despite the fact that she wanted to escape him and go over to Carlisle.

I watched as Carlisle looked up from the tight embrace of his wife and looked at the stranger still comfortably seated on the couch.

She shrugged with nonchalance. "He wants to know how we saved you from the evil zombies."

This mind reading thing was not any cuter on this girl than it was on Edward.

"No, no they did not save me from the guardians. They are the guardians." Carlisle quickly corrected our false assumption.

We all took a large step back and started to examine her face more closely, expecting it to start falling apart at any moment. Nothing happened and almost in unison we heaved a sigh of relief.

That was when I heard the familiar sound, the excitement of Carlisle's return meant that I had not been paying attention to all the sounds. But suddenly my mind registered something, the strange little heartbeat with the funny skip - Phil?

Running out to the front porch at full speed I slammed into a body standing right outside the door. My mind registered a large male body, whose hands immediately came up to my forearms to steady me but that did not matter. I smelled the outdoors, sweat, soap and Phil. I only stopped to pause for a second before wrapping my arms around his narrow waist.

Rubbing my face into the thick sweater that covered his broad shoulders I inhaled deeply, he smelled of citrus and sage - I loved that smell. Strong arms came around my back as he returned my embrace rubbing up and down in a soothing gesture. I could feel the tension of the past month receding from my muscles.

"How have you been Princess?" he asked in his rumbly voice and I was ready to cry with relief. He would know what to do, he would help me make sense of this awful day. Maybe he could offer me a sanctuary away from all this madness and I could finally figure out what the hell was going on.

"It has been hell on earth," I told him honestly, sucking in big gulps of air in an attempt to prevent the tears from falling but also because I could not seem to get enough of his smell. Only now when I had my arms around him once again did I realize how much I had missed the man. He offered me food, and shelter and comfort without asking anything in return; the only demands he had ever made were regarding my future, he wanted me to succeed in whatever I chose to do when I finally grew up. I did not know what I had done to deserve a man like Phil but I sure as hell was not going to push him away again.

"I am sorry to hear that Princess," his voice sounded sad. "Look on the bright side, you have survived the invasion of the Volturi, but not only that - you helped undermine their authority to the point that in a century or so they will no longer have any power."

For a moment I did not register his words, I was too happy to notice what he was saying. Phil was back and he was not pissed off at me, and he did not sound disappointed like he had last time we had spoken; in fact he had sounded kind of proud. _Alert, alter, mayday, mayday_ - my mind was trying to signal something.

I looked up at his face, the dimples were out in full force as he gave me a smile. For the first time in a month I was able to give someone a genuine smile. The happy feeling did not last long, I immediately jumped away from him. My wolf strength allowing me to move to the other side of the porch in one jump. I was horrified to notice that Phil normally brown eyes were green, the same pale green as the woman sitting on the couch inside.

* * *

A/N: Should I hide in a bulletproof bunker for ending it like that?

Twilighter: Are you caught up with reading again? I promise I won't do that level of updates for a long while.

ABarbieStory: I had to laugh out loud at your antics. And I am sure you are ready to come get me now that I have not fully explained what is going on. Sorry to disturb your dog and your roommate. Looking forward to your reaction to this next chapter.

Ms animegoddess: Glad you liked it, I know most people would not think that Phil had anything to do with the half dead zombies.

Connect2tjb: Sorry about the confusion, I will remember to number the updates if I ever go that insane again.


	19. Explanations

18 - Explanations

I stood there on the other side of the porch, waiting for something to happen. For Phil to attack, or whatever he planned on doing. My heart was pumping at lightning speed, a sudden rush of adrenaline pushed away all my fatigue.

Instead of moving towards me he stayed on the other side of the porch leaning casually against one of the posts. My olympic quality jump had not surprised him, if the curling up of his lips was any indication he had found my athletic feat amusing.

The pale green eyes were a little bit disconcerting, especially since I had become so used to them being brown. "So which color is the right one?" I pointed towards his face, hoping he would understand what I said.

"Ah you noticed the eyes?" his absolute calm was starting to leech into me as usual. "They are normally green, but it makes people think I am too exotic. The brown helps me fit in more."

The brown might help him fit in, but the green eyes matched his personality more - it made you pause and take a second look, and Phil was one of those guys that most certainly was worth a second perusal. They made his face look a lot more interesting, especially when they contrasted with his dark skin.

"What do you mean they are aliens?" I heard Rosalie's shriek from inside the house.

"I knew it, where do you keep the flying saucer?" Emmet asked with a great deal of excitement in his voice. "I should have made the bet Carlisle was beamed up by the aliens."

My eyes must have bulged out of my face. "You are an alien?" I was so shocked it was almost impossible to get the words out. I would have never thought this possible, not in a million years.

He made a face before moving his head around in a circular gesture not really giving a yes or no answer. "Not exactly," he told me in his usual uninformative way.

"I want to know the truth." I said moving back towards Phil not caring if he was dangerous anymore. Anger over having been lied to making me more brave than I should have been.

"The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" Phil asked in a serious voice. "Leah, the world is not black and white, I would think you would know better by now."

"Well I want to know your version of the truth, no more lies." I growled inches from his face. Like I had noted before, he was much better than I was at these word games.

"What do you mean Leah? When have I ever lied to you?" Phil said with a completely innocent look on his face.

"Like about the fact that your were human." I growled again.

"I never said I was, how is it my fault that you just assumed that I was human?" Phil asked turning my words around on me. "Though technically speaking it would not be a lie if I told you I was human." He did not yield his stance, instead herded me until I was backed up against one of the posts that held up the roof over the front porch. I put my hands behind me holding onto the square piece of wood for a little extra support. Straightening to my full height and squaring my shoulders I looked up into his smiling face. He had placed both arm on the railing beside me, effectively caging me in - a small shiver that had nothing to do with the cold January night went down my spine.

"You are not going to get away with your usual cryptic crap tonight, I want answers and you will tell me the truth no matter what I have to do." I told him with a less then effective glare, I was hoping that he thought my increased rate of breathing was due to my anger; the truth was closer the the fact that his intimidation combined with his smell were getting my body a little too excited. _Down libido, down_.

"I will answer any question you want, but not here." He might have been smiling, but his words sounded genuine.

"So where are you going to tell me?" Why would he not tell me here? Was there something wrong with this place?

"At my home?" He made a vague gesture with his hands.

"You want me to go to the cabin with you?" I was not about to admit how tempted I was to escape to the cabin and forget about the outside world. We could go back to pretending we were both human, I almost did not even need an explanation if we could just go back there.

"No I want you to come home with me," he emphasized the word home. "But first let us go inside and see what your pack is doing." He stepped back from me, I felt a twinge of disappointment. Dominant Phil was kind of sexy to watch, I never knew being pushed around was a turn-on for me - but it might have helped that despite my current uncertainties deep down inside I trusted Phil, he had always gone out of his way to make sure I was all right.

Phil waved his hand, indicating that I should go first, I glared at him before marching into the house; there was not need to encourage his bossy behavior. Things had not changed much in the past few minutes, Esme was still embracing Carlisle while the others hovered. If vampires could possibly cry she would have been bawling, she was staring up at Carlisle like he had been gone for months instead of the few hours. The wolves were looking around with concern, not knowing what to do.

Phil went to one of the chairs, I followed him watching for any false moves. He flipped the chair before straddling it. Was it wrong for me to thing it was sexy for him to sit like that? _Come on Leah focus on what is important. Not the long legs incased in jeans._

"I knew I should have investigated you further," Jasper said with a growl and a glare sent in Phil's direction.

Phil and Carlisle looked at each other and laughed. "That was precisely what I told him when I first met him." Carlisle explained the joke to the rest of us.

"And my reply then was that you would not have found anything, I am really good at what I do." Phil gave him a small smile, I could practically hear Jasper grinding his teeth in frustration.

"Are you even a doctor?" Jake asked with suspicion.

"Of course, went to medical school and all that fun." Phil explained to him, not at all bothered by the accusation. "Phila over here has her Ph D. Everything is legit."

So that was who she was, I should have guess. His good friend, Phila, the one that loved Colin Firth. I was half tempted to blurt out that Colin Firth was gay, but that might start a fight I might lose.

I kept waiting for something to happen, for them to turn green or for the tentacles to come out. Phil looked exactly the same as I remembered. Well almost exactly, those pale green eyes were going to take some time to get used to.

There was something out of place, something not right but it was not Phil or Phila, it was actually Carlisle. His hair and clothes were completely different, if I did not know better I would surmise that he had gotten a makeover. "Carlisle did you get a haircut?"

"What happened to you?" Esme asked finally noticing that he had changed.

"The Katinator." Phil said in an ominous tone, but I could hear the undertones of humor coming from him.

Carlisle laughed. "I encountered his aunt Katie, she is a little bit discriminating as to what I was allowed to wear. Though she might only be a small thing, she can be quite intimidating."

"It is best to do as she orders." Phila added with a smirk on her face. "Or you can do what Phil does - avoid her if you want to be able to pick out your own clothes."

"Carlisle, why are you blocking me?" Edward asked all of a sudden sounding angry and frustrated.

"Not for any malicious reason, I just did not want you to get overwhelmed." Carlisle made some futile gestures and seemed to look at Phila and Phil for help.

"I am blocking him so that you cannot hear his thoughts." Phil said in a quiet voice.

"But I could hear your thoughts before." Edward said. Was it just me or was he really starting to whine?

"That was because I let you in, normally I have blocks up so that my mind cannot be entered." Phil clarified for Edward.

"Why did you let me in before?" Edward asked, nope it was not my imagination. Edward was starting to whine like a five year old being denied that ice-cream sunday.

"It would have looked suspicious had you not been able to read my mind. I let you into a compartment of it, so that you would be appeased." Phil explained. "Sorry about the blood thing last time but I knew you would not be able to examine my thoughts too closely if I filled them with thoughts of doing surgery."

"I see," Edward said, we could almost hear him grinding his teeth in frustration. It was interesting to note that Phil knew that we had been investigating him, and he had even let us gain some intel on him - but only enough for us to abandon our search.

"Do you?" Phil asked, "No I do not think you understand, but an explanation can be provided. Just not in this place." There were murmurs around the room, they too got a dose of Phil's cryptic answers and did not like it very much. _Ladies and gentlemen let me introduce Phil, the man who can answer all your questions without actually telling you anything_.

"Let me close the blinds first." Carlisle said, going to a panel and pushing a button that caused steel blinds to come down on all the windows. All the wolves jumped, but neither the vampires nor the Guardians moved. Wow I guess the vampires were a little paranoid, their security system was insane.

Phil paused for a moment trying to consider things. "I guess you would want to know how we are associated with the guardians? And probably what our intentions are towards your family?"

"If we wanted to take you out, we could have done it a while back," Phila repeated her earlier statement in a bored tone. I had known from the moment I saw her standing there that I would dislike her, she was not really changing my original opinion of her. Gone was the friendly smile, which was her true personality? the friendly green eyed girl? or this cool woman?

"Thanks for reassuring them, that helped relieve the tension," Phil's voice was chock full of sarcasm. "What you are about to be told does not leave this group, you do not discuss this with anyone ever. We keep our secret much better than the Volturi, you tell anyone outside of the people in this room and either their minds will be wiped or they will die. My family has survived as long as we have because of our anonymity and I will not have you endangering that." He sounded more serious than I had ever heard him. He was not helping us relax anymore than Phila. "Do you understand?"

We all nodded or murmured our assent. Did he not know who he was talking to? We all knew what it was like to keep secrets, it was like second nature to us at this point.

"All right, for the sake of security we will not be having this discussion here." Phil nodded at Phila who went to stand next to him.

"Woot I knew it, can I drive the mothership?" Emmett blurted out and we all looked at him. If he had not been a vampire I would have guessed he had been smoking the crack pipe. "Come on just once around the solar system, I promise to bring it back with a full tank of gas and everything."

Phila laughed loudly, the friendly woman was back. "Sorry to disappoint you but there is no mothership. We do own a couple of helicopters, if you have a license you are welcome to use one of them."

"But how are you related to the guardians, Carlisle here says you are them but honestly you don't look like a walking corpse." This was from Edward who was clearly still upset that Carlisle's mind was closed to him.

"Our interaction with the Volturi is somewhat complicated and I really do not feel like explaining it all here. That is why we are taking you to our island. That is where Carlisle went when the group disappeared from the woods." Phil stood up from his chair, he pulled something strange out of the back pocket of his jeans. A thin silver rectangle, he started touching one side of it, almost like he was typing away at a keyboard. The side facing away from him had no marking on it, so I could not identify it.

"Yes it would be much easier to explain on the island, if you would like to come with us that is." Carlisle chimed in, his reassurances going a long way to making us feel a lot more at ease. He had been there and obviously had not been harmed, so it should be relatively safe.

Phil stopped touching the silver rectangle, and looked up at us. We were all wondering what the hell he was doing. "It takes a while to calculate the proper coordinates, this is not one of those things you want to mess up."

"How are we getting to the island?" Edwards asked, his voice was thick with curiosity.

"Beam us up Scottie," I heard Emmett murmur under his breath, Rosalie reached over and popped him on the back of his head.

"It is much easier to show you than actually explain, but think of it this way, we will bend the fabric of space to do it." Phila said as she too watched Phil continue with his calculations.

"And that little silver plate is capable of bending space?" Emmett asked dubiously, he sounded very disappointed.

"No I can bend the space, this thing just tells me how to do it." Phil answered him without looking up.

We watched as he touched the silver thing with the tip of each finger on his right hand. They started to glow and soon his entire hand was coated with the light, then he seemed to throw the thing at the middle of the living room.

There was something there but you could not quite see it. Almost like a mirage over the desert, or some sort of distortion in the air at the center of the room.

"Now we walk through it," Phila said making a sweeping gesture at us like she was expecting us to go near that thing.

We kept waiting for something more concrete to happen. Something along the lines of a space ship appearing would have been nice.

Phila sighed and after saying something derogatory about our bravery walked through it, she disappeared as soon as she got close enough to the bubble in the air.

"Hey Princess, I dare you." Phil told me with a smile that brought out his dimples full force.

I narrowed my eyes at him, did he think I was foolish enough to do something just because he dared me? I think it was a combination of curiosity, the dimples and a huge amount of stupidity. I squared my shoulders and walked forward. I could hear Jake telling me to stop, but I ignored him.

I walked towards the mirage all the while glaring at Phil. After a few moments of hesitation I walked into the blur.

I have to admit I might have closed my eyes before I walked into the mirage thing. I was not quite sure as to why I had actually taken Phil's dare; but as he had noted before being the only girl in a pack of boys made me unable to back down. I could have been walking into some alien trap, maybe I should have kept my eyes open.

There was a tugging sensation, like something had taken a hold of my entire body and pulled. The next step I took was into something cold and wet.

"Woah this is so awesome." I heard Embry's voice right behind me. I guess he had not taken long in following me.

I finally got up the nerve to open up my eyes, and surprise flooded my entire body. I don't exactly know what I was expecting but this winter wonderland was not it. We were in a field of snow again, this was a lot deeper than the stuff that had fallen this morning near the Rez. It was a good yard or so thick along the edges. This had not happened overnight, it had taken several snowfalls to build up to this depth.

It looked like this place had seen a great deal of traffic, the snow under my feet was trampled; footsteps were leading away from the field in all directions, I do not know how far they went since they disappeared into the trees.

The primordial looking forrest that surrounded us looked pristine and untouched. I could hear the small animals scurrying about in the underbrush, it sounded like there were more of them here than in the forest I was used to. The trees seemed to be mainly evergreens but there were a few ancient gnarly trees, I could not tell what they were since they had no leaves on them.

All around us was a circle of flag poles with long ribbons of different colors streaming down from their tops, they were moving slightly but there did not seem to be enough wind for them to truly fly. The thick ribbons of fabric were long enough that they almost fell to the ground.

There were no manmade lights around us, the only light seemed to be coming from the sky. I looked up and saw more stars than I had ever seen in my entire life. _And two moons?_

"We are definitely not in Kansas anymore." Quil muttered under his breath. I might not know much about astronomy or such things but I was pretty sure we were no longer on Earth.

"Where are we?" Edward asked, I looked around me to note that all the vampires had joined me in the field. Phil suddenly appeared, he had been the last one to come through.

"This is the island, our home." Phila said with a smile. She liked this place, this was her home. Her voice was filled with pride and love, there was also a hint of something else I could not identify. Maybe a suggestion of benevolence, she was doing us a favor by bringing us here and showing us her home.

"This is a cool island," Emmett noted moving towards the flags.

"No don't touch them," Phila said in a stern voice. We all watched in amazement as she moved to touch Emmett and actually managed to pull his arm back so that he could not touch the ribbon. Just how strong was this girl?

Emmett looked surprised as well, he was having a bad year. First Bella beats him in an arm wrestling match and now this Phila pulls him back without looking like she even tried.

"You are strong," Emmett said his eyes narrowing in annoyance.

Phila laughed out loud, of course it was perfect sounding. I was starting to dislike her even more, especially when Phil went over to her and bumped into her. I knew they were good friends but I was starting to suspect that at least at one point they were more than friends.

"No I am not stronger than you, I just cheated a little." We all gave her a confused look, how can you cheat when it came to strength? "I use my mind to pull on his arm, putting my hand on him was just a guide for myself."

I looked over at Phil, he had done all the talking earlier, but now he seemed content to let Phila take over the tour.

I watched with surprise as his eyes suddenly got darker, they were now a deep shade of purple. His face had gone blank as well, he seemed frozen on the spot. I must have made some sort of noise of concern, I did not know how to do this articulate the problem.

Phila must have notice my expression because she looked over her shoulder and sighed. "Well I am sorry to inform you we are experiencing technical difficulties, but we will be back to your regularly scheduled programming as soon as possible."

"What?" I asked finally finding my voice. I started to move towards Phil, his girlfriend or whatever the heck she might be did not seem overly concerned but I was not going to take her word for it.

"Phil are you all right," I reached over to touch his cheek but he did not seem to hear me.

"He is having a vision," Edward stated. "If it comes true it would be best for us to either move or everyone hold their breath. There is a bleeding body that is about to come through ... oh amazing."

"Edward," Emmet said in a frustrated voice. But I noticed he moved closer to Jasper, the vampire of the family who had the least amount of control. I guess Emmett was prepared to intervene if necessary.

I watched as Phil seemed to take a deep breath and start moving again. He looked down at me with a confused smile. "What is wrong Princess?" Much to my relief his eyes were back to the pale green color. I swiftly removed my hand from his cheek.

"And we are back." Phila stated, like we did not already know this fact.

"Josefine and Kendrick are coming with a child." He said looking past me to tell Phila. "Aurora has the clinic been informed?"

"Yes, eta is less than two minutes." A emotionless voice stated. I could not see who was talking, I did notice that Carlisle did not seem to be looking around for the owner of the voice like the rest of us.

"Who is available to care for the child?" Phil asked.

"Bee, Gaerwn, Mari, and Beth have all confirmed their availability. Still waiting for Emese and Rose to confirm."

"Why is Rose being called in?" Phila asked sounding bothered by the fact.

"The child is from the continent of Africa, there is a high probability of infection with numerous pathogens. I determined that Rose would be qualified to help treat the patient." The voice continued. It was kind of creeping me out, not seeing who was talking to us.

There was a small sound like the wind and two figures appeared in front of us. One was a huge guy that was taller than anyone I had ever seen. He was wearing camouflage pants with an army green tank top. His entire left side seemed to be completely covered with a celtic tribal tattoo. I did notice that he did not have the pale green eyes of that I had encountered in Phil's family, his were a strange lavender color. Next to him was a bundled up figure, it looked like one of the zombies from earlier today, except it did not smell like one. This one was carrying what I quickly realized was a small child; both of the new additions had strong heartbeats, the child did not. I could also smell the strong scent of blood. Someone or something had completely torn this child apart to the point where it could barely be recognized as human.

"Kendrick, Josefine, how bad is it?" Phil asked moving over to examine the child.

"Her heart stopped a few seconds ago, we have to go get her frozen before the brain deteriorates." The tall one said in a hurried voice. I assumed he was Kendrick because he did not look like a Josefine to me.

"The clinic is ready for you." They moved with swiftly, away from us carrying the burden. I noticed that Josefine lifted a hand to pull the hood further down, I guess she really did not want to be seen by us.

"What happened to the child? Was that done by the guardians?" Esme asked in a quiet and terrified voice.

"No, that was done completely by humans. It is an intimidation tactic. Kill the young men and boys, and play with the girls." Phila said in a tired voice. I was only guessing at this point but I got the impression this was not the first time they had encountered this.

Rosalie made a growling sound, looking incensed. Jake and I looked at each other, we had no idea what her damage was but she was practically vibrating with fury.

The noises she was making also garnered Phil's attention. "She will survive but she will need a great deal of care afterwards."

"Why are you telling me this?" She said fiercely, but I noticed her eyes had not moved from the spot where the figures had disappeared into the woods.

"I am telling you this because as of today that little girl is an orphan, she needs a mother." Phil had done his poker face trick again. He was stating facts waiting for Rosalie to draw her own conclusions. I could see the wheels churning in her head, she was thinking so fast there should have been smoke coming out of her ears.

"I cannot take care of a human child." Rosalie said with a great deal of disgust. But we all could hear the regret underneath. Jake had said how desperate Rose was to have a child.

"I see," Phil said shaking his head in disappointment.

"Before we head out, I need to get you past the defense system." We watched as Phila walked over to one of the poles and touched it. The ribbon attached to the pole seemed to move on its own accord and wrapped around her wrists. "Come I need you to touch this while I am touching it. Aurora these will be new members of the family, give them access to all parts of the planet."

We were somewhat hesitant but we walked over to her and did as she had asked. Phil stopped me before I could take my turn. "Leah is already in the system."

I looked over at him in confusion. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"I had to add you to the system when you were staying at the cabin, Aurora watches over that place as well. So she already recognizes you." He said with a shrug like this should all make sense to me.

"Who exactly is Aurora?" I was not sure I liked some voyeur watching my every move.

"She is the AI, the family database and watchdog all rolled into one." Phil explained to me.

"Is that how you knew I had gone by the house that one time you called?" It made a lot more sense now. I had been somewhat bothered by the fact that he had called to tell me to turn the alarm system off.

He smiled at me showing the full dimples. "Yes, she called to inform me you had entered the house."

Well I guess that explained one mystery, not that it did not create a whole slew of others. There was one question I really wanted to ask him, but I could not seem to make myself. _Why did you hang out with me for the past few months? Was it because I was an easy target to spy on my family?_

Phil narrowed his green eyes at me and then he started laughing. I growled at him, it felt like he was laughing at me. At this point in time I was not in the mood to be made fun of. I could feel my hands starting to shake. I was past my breaking point, the smallest thing would set me off at this point.

"Princess, there are a great many words I could use to describe you but easy target is not one of them. Add that to the fact that you did not spend enough time with the Cullens to actually have useful information on them." He had stopped laughing and was much more serious now.

I did not like the fact that he had read my mind but I was glad I had not been used simply so he could get closer to the vampires. For some reason I still could not figure out I trusted Phil, at least to believe him about this. I wondered how much he was leaving out. "So why did you hang out with me?"

"Could it not be because I liked your company?" He asked with another smile.

I snorted, my company had not been exactly pleasant especially when he first met me.

"You are much better company than some women I have had the misfortune of having to deal with. It is refreshing to meet someone who is as strong as you. You seem to have gotten that trait from your mother." He said with a smile.

Whatever answer I may or may not have given him was prevented by the arrival of two people from the forrest. It was strange, everyone seemed to be in pairs.

The first one seemed to be the biggest one I had seen yet, he made Emmett look like a skinny teenager. He was not as tall as the Kendrick we had just met, but he was freaking wide. It was his face that seemed to be the most arresting, he had a huge square head with a wide forehead, thick dark eyebrows that topped his prominent eye ridges. If I had to take a guess I would almost say he looked more like a Neanderthal. This guy was definitely not human.

Emmett noticed this as well. "There is one ugly man," he mumbled under his breath.

The man turned to Emmett looking throughly offended. "For your information I happen to be the female of my species, and I am considered pretty by many." He, I mean she, had the deep voice of a man.

"If this is considered pretty, I wonder what is considered ugly," Embry muttered under his breath. I shuddered, I could not even begin to imagine what she would look like.

Open mouth insert foot, Emmett seemed to be good at doing that. We don't know what was worse the fact that Emmett had already managed to insult one of them or that she was considered pretty. She did seem to have the green eyes that seemed common to most of the members of this group.

"I guess you would not do her huh?" I mumbled quietly. I could see Embry twitching out of the corner of my eye. I tried to suppress a laugh, I guess he did not think this girl was hot, unlike the Melissa we had met earlier.

All of a sudden the ugly girl flinched. I could not be sure but it almost looked like the small figure behind the ugly woman had punched punched her in the side. "Please excuse Myles he was dropped on his head a great deal as a child."

Myles let out a booming laugh. "The look on your face was priceless kid. I can't believe you actually apologized."

Emmett looked confused for a second before he too burst out laughing.

The small figure moved out from behind Myles. He was the complete opposite of Myles, in all ways possible. Where Myles was tall and sturdy looking, this new figure was tiny and delicate. He had dark hair that was closely cropped, pale skin and dark brown eyes that could almost be mistaken for black. His most striking feature was the birthmark on his face. It covered his nose completely and spread almost like a butterfly covering his eyes and cheeks. I would have thought it was a bruise but it had a blue and silver metallic quality to it.

"I am sorry, I have met Myles but I do not believe we have been introduced." Carlisle said walking towards him.

"We have been introduced, I am Stef, this is just me wearing my work clothes." Stef said with a smile.

"Oh I am sorry, I did not recognize you on account of the..." Carlisle made some awkward gestures that I could not seem to understand.

"Not a problem, speaking of work. You added the wrong buffer to one of you experiments. I corrected the problem, but it does mean it will take a few hours before the sequencing is complete." Stef said with a smile.

"Oh really?" And Carlisle proceeded to go through some science geek mumbo jumbo that I did not understand. I was standing there looking around, having given up on trying to follow what they were talking about.

Myles rolled his eyes, and I tried not to laugh, he must be used to this by now. He moved a little closer to me. "So are you the famous Princess?"

"Um, I think so." I said reluctantly, I don't know if I wanted him to call me that, but I also had learned from Phil that complaining would only end up with being stuck with the name.

All of a sudden I was picked up and squeezed. "So, how are you doing?" Myles asked, after putting me down. I assumed by the big smile plastered on his face that I had been given his version of a hug.

"Stop harassing her, Myles." Phil interrupted.

"I just was happy to finally meet the person you kept talking about...constantly." Myles pointed out, his smile getting even bigger.

"Mother should have drowned you at birth, it would have made my life a lot easier." Phil said in a sour tone.

"Oh come on big brother, don't be such a party pooper." He said giving Phil a big shove.

This was Phil's brother? Now that it was mentioned they did look a lot alike, Myles' features were a little more exaggerated. He was also far more muscular, but I should have know they were related. They both had that funny skip to their heartbeats.

I don't know why but all of a sudden it became too much. Usually I was a lot stronger than this but the emotional roller coaster I had been on for the past few weeks finally managed to overtake me. The second burst of energy that I got from Phil and Phila showing up had worn off. This constant influx of new people had gotten too much for me. My mind could not figure out why Myles was being so nice to me, a total stranger. I wanted to go somewhere quiet and completely safe, actually I wanted to go back to the cabin in the woods, pre-Volturi time. Hell while I was wishing I wanted to go back to pre-vampire and werewolf time. I don't know if he read my mind or it was just visible on my face but Phil somehow noticed the change in me.

"You can go with the rest of the pack if you wish, or you can come with me. I promise it will be much more quiet at my house." Phil said quietly moving beside me. I had been so busy in my own little world that I had not noticed everyone was moving away from the field.

I watched as Carlisle took his family one way and Phila took my wolf pack another way. Phil and I were the only ones remaining in the field.

"Come on Princess, do you want me to carry you?" He asked gently, he always knew when I needed to be treated delicately and this was one of those times.

I was trying to get my mind working enough to tell him that it would be pretty pathetic to be carried but Phil beat me to it. Picking me up bridal style, I let out a squeak of protest as he put one hand across my back and the other behind my back before lifting me off the ground as if I weighed nothing. "Hey what do I look like? A sack of potatoes?" I was feeling a little self conscious about being in his arms.

"You don't have on any shoes, I am not letting you walk through the snow without any boots." Phil did not set me down, instead he started walking in strides that quickly took us to the edge of the tree line. As we passed them it was kind of creepy the way the ribbons seemed to reach out and touch us, almost like they were moving deliberately.

"I am too heavy for you," I complained worried about him carrying me, it was not like I was some dainty girl that could easily be picked up.

Phil immediately started wobbling and it looked like we were going to fall over or slam into a tree, "wow you sure are heavy, have you considered going on a diet." I grabbed onto his neck and let out a small scream as he nearly dropped me. It took me a while to register his words.

I looked up into his face to notice he was smiling ear to ear. I narrowed my eyes at him and let go of his neck with one of my arms to punch him in the side. "You are such a jerk." I could not help but smile.

"Yeah, I am, but you are too easy to play with." He steadied himself as we started to walk through the woods, it was much darker under the thick canopy. The moonlight did not filter through the branches of the towering conifers. I noticed he did not seem to have any trouble navigating through the gloom, he must have good night vision.

"You know I am a wolf, the cold weather does not bother me," it was so awesome to be finally able to tell him that.

"Yes it does not bother you, but it does force your body to burn more calories in order to maintain your body temperature. So you need to eat more." Phil told me in a matter of fact tone, making me wonder how he knew all this stuff. I decided not to worry about it, and wrapped my arms tighter around his neck, putting a head on his shoulder.

Soon we came to a small pile of rocks that turned out to be a fence encircling the house that had suddenly appeared. I perked up a little and started to took around, curious to see what his home looked like. I did not recognize the architecture at all, the house was angular and made entirely of glass and that silver metal the people here seemed to use a great deal of. There was what looked to be a garden with several small trees inside of the stone fence, but I could not really tell because everything was covered with snow. Phil quickly covered the small section of yard that had been cleared of snow and headed for the door that was of course made from that strange metal. He balanced me on one knee while he somehow slid the door open.

"Aurora lights please." Phil said as we stepped inside. I noticed dark colors and wood paneling before we headed up a wide flight of stairs, the lights turned on as we walked forward and turned off behind us. Must be nice for conservation of energy.

I was going to ask him to put me down since we were no longer outside in the snow, but it was not worth the fight. When he opened one of the doors in the hall I was greeted with a small room filled with built in book shelves and a few pieces of furniture. Everything looked barren, the bookshelves were empty and the walls were bare of any sort of decoration. The couch and side chair were flanked by small side tables made of simple wood. The lack of pictures and knickknacks should have reminded me of the cabin, but this room looked half-finished instead of the simplistic style that had been applied to the cabin.

"The bathroom is through the door to the right, and the bedroom is through that door to the left." Phil said simply. I guess he could tell I could not handle any more information at this point. He carried me through the door to the bathroom, it looked fairly conventional but a little larger than I was used to. There was an extra large bathtub and a separate shower, the counters had the minimum toiletries on them.

He placed me down on the closed toilet and kneeled in front of me, "are you all right?"

"Yeah, just a little confused right now." My mind was on overload, I mean seriously if I thought about it I was on another planet. Hell I had never been outside of the United States and here I was god only knows where on another planet.

Phil turned around and opened the door to the shower, pushing a few buttons to make it turn on. "Take a shower Leah, it will make you feel better."

He left me alone with the water running, I put my hand underneath the stream it was already hot. I quickly stripped and got under the hot stream. I don't know how long I stood there while the water pelted my skin, but eventually I got enough brain function together to locate something that resembled soap. In a small alcove built inside the shower I located a bottle of some nice smelling stuff, I was going to assume it was supposed to be shampoo. Next to it was a bar of soap that smelled strongly of lavender, the scent was delicate and not at all overwhelming.

When all my parts were finally clean I stepped out of the shower reaching for a towel. I was too tired to try to figure out how to turn off the shower, if Phil did not want me to waste water her was going to have to come in here and turn it off. I was happy to note that the bathroom seemed better stocked than the room next to it. There were thick towels and a robe as well as an assortment of bottles, jars, and tubes of what smelled like toothpaste.

I tried my best to comb all the tangles out of my hair but I quickly gave up on that idea. I decided it would be best if I wrapped myself in the robe, it was thick and fluffy and seemed to be about the right length for me.

When I looked outside the bathroom I noticed Phil was no longer in the center room, so I quickly dashed across to open the door to the bedroom. This room too was sparsely furnished with a large bed, and a dresser being the only large pieces of furniture. I was happy to find some clothes on the bed, they were my size. The fabric was not one that I recognized but the cut of the clothes was familiar. After putting on the pajama pants and long sleeve t-shirt I sat down on the bed. I nearly sank into the soft bed, the blanket was made out of one of the softest fabrics I have ever felt. It looked thick and fluffy, perfect for hiding under on a cold winter night. The knock on the door interrupted my molestation of the blanket. I grunted something, I don't know exactly what.

Phil came in carrying a small tray, "here scoot back a little." He gave me some quick directions and fluffed up a pillow behind my back before placing his tray on my lap. I took a moment to enjoy the comfort of the bed before concentrating on what he had brought. In front of me was a bowl of unknown soup that smelled absolutely delicious, some sort of roll that had been split in two and smeared with butter, and of course the obligatory spoon and napkin were also present.

"Eat so that you can go to sleep," he ordered in a gentle voice as he sat down by my feet. Or at least I thought it was supposed to be gentle but with how deep and rumbly his voice it came out as extra sexy. I considered disobeying his order just out of principle, but the food smelled too good and I had missed his cooking.

He waited long enough for me to start eating before he got up and left the room. "I will be back in a few minutes," he told me before leaving. Now that he was no longer hovering over me and watching me eat I dug into my meal. The bread was still warm, like he had just pulled it out of the oven and I ate it in only four bites. The soup was made out of carrots, celery and a bean of some sort that I did not recognize. The creamy texture of the beans was absolutely delectable, I seriously had missed Phil's cooking.

Between the warm shower and the good food I was starting to feel a little sleepy. It took all of my energy to push the tray aside and leave the cozy bed in order to utilize that toothbrush I had seen in the bathroom.

Phil found me holding the now empty tray trying to figure out where to put it.

"I am surprised you are still awake." Phil noted as he relieved me of my burden. I was too tired to try and be polite so I dragged back the blanket and got into the bed that I assumed was mine for the night. "Here this will help you sleep," he handed me a tall glass of something.

"What is it?" I sniffed it. It smelt like milk and cinnamon.

"Just some warm milk, it will help you relax." Phil said gently. "I know things seem overwhelming now, but it will be better in the morning."

I did not see how this upheaval in my life could get better by the morning. Hello there were such things as aliens though that part had not been explained. There were also things that scared the shit out of the Volturi, that was really hard to grasp. Oh and to top it all off, the one guy I had counted on to be a normal human turned out to be a 'not exactly' an alien and now I was at his home on another freaking planet. Suddenly I could not understand how my pack and the Cullens had agreed to come here.

I looked down at the glass in my hand and was reminded of the crud he had made me drink when I had that awful hangover.

"What was in that stuff? That morning?" I asked looking up at him, the green eyes were still throwing me off, but I could see how they fit him more than the plain brown eyes had.

"The hangover cure? I don't really remember, milk, hot sauce, chocolate syrup, and a whole slew of other stuff." He gave me his big smile, the one with the dimples.

"Why did I drink that stuff?" I mumbled under my breath, not really expecting an answer.

"So that you would think twice next time before you decided to drink yourself senseless." Phil said with a stern voice, but he ruined it by smiling.

"That lesson was learned before I drank that stuff." I told him with a huff.

"That is what my son said when I did that to him." Phil pushed the glass closer to my face trying to encourage me to drink it.

"Wait you have a son?" I suddenly realized this would be something important.

"Adopted son, I even have a grandson." He told me simply, now all of a sudden he had decided to tell me about himself.

"How old are you exactly?" The fog lifted from my mind for a moment and I was suddenly very curious.

"Much, much older than you. Now drink your milk Princess and go to sleep."

I opened my mouth to protest but then I decided I did not want to know, I had learned far too much already today. So I did as he had asked, and finished my milk. He must have put something extra in it because very soon I could barely keep my eyes open.

"Nothing extra in the milk." I heard him murmur. I think I felt him pull the bed covers around me. "Sleep." I might have felt a set of warm lips on my forehead, but that could have been my imagination.

* * *

A/N: I am waving white flag, glad no one hunted me down. But it was quick update so you can't really complain.

ABarbieStory: All right I am coming out of hiding, please don't hurt me. I offer up another chapter. Hope you liked Leah's reaction, I think anyone else would have been overwhelmed in a position like this. The surprises just kept on coming before she could recover she was hit with another one. Plus you gotta love Emmet and Myles, those two could get into a lot of trouble together.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked their reunion hopefully this chapter gave you a little more, it is really fun to write about Phil harassing his Princess but taking care of her at the same time. I hope you guys like reading about it.

Yamiik: Welcome to the conversation, hopefully you liked this last chapter.

Twilighter: Glad you could catch up, yeah rewrite is fun, because you get to tweek the scenes you wanted to and you just copy and paste the ones that you are too lazy to rewrite. Not that this chapter was that easy, I combined and pulled from three different ones. It will be interesting how I will be able to add the other parts back in, cross fingers and hope I did not overwhelm people with too much info.

Connect2tjb: The last chapter and this one were changed a great deal from the original. I am trying to give the history of Phil and his family in much smaller portions. Some people have asked me to put up the original, but the chapters are out of order and I am afraid people would get confused if they went back and forth between the two.


	20. The Island

19 - The Island

The light was too bright behind my eyelids, not being ready to wake up yet I rolled over and tried to burrow myself further under the covers. I kept moving away from that sunshine, which should have been my first clue that everything was not normal - there is never any sunshine to greet me in the morning at home. But it took me rolling several feet away from the light to realize that had I been home I would have fallen off the bed by now.

The events of the previous day came crashing back. Phil not being human, going to another planet. It was not as devastating as it had been last night, but it was still overwhelming. I sat up in the bed and looked around, things in the room looked pretty much the same as they had last night. The walls were a plain cream color with nothing on them. My robe and towel were gone from the floor where I had dropped them before putting on my pajamas, looks like the magic cleaning fairy had gone through my room last night.

My stomach made a loud grumbling sound, seriously it needed to calm down. The past month had not consisted of regular meals but now that my belly had gotten another taste of Phil's cooking it was going to be demanding food more frequently.

I pushed my feet off of the bed, letting my legs dangle over the edge. I went to the bathroom to take care of business and was kind of annoyed to find that Phil had gotten to this room as well, the clothes that I had worn here were gone leaving me with nothing to wear.

I debated between searching for clothes and food, in the end I decided it would be best to get my explanation from Phil while fully dressed. So I headed back to the bedroom, maybe that dresser had some clothes I could use - there was also a smaller door that looked like it could lead to a closet. I hit the jackpot when opening the dresser, the top drawer had neatly folded underwear and socks. Next I found short and long sleeve tshirts, followed by what looked liked a pair of jeans but made of material much softer than denim.

Surprisingly everything fit, at one point I was going to have to ask Phil how he knew my underwear size but there were much more important questions to ask. Like what the heck he was and what he wanted with me. I headed downstairs after brushing my teeth, it was best not to interrogate a guy with morning breath. I went past several doors on the second floor but none of them were open, and at this point I was not going to go snooping around - that would wait till later.

I located Phil on the bottom floor, he was in the kitchen of course. He was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt like I was, though his shirt was a dark green as opposed to the fuchsia that I was wearing. His shoulder length hair was loose around his face, softening the edges of his hard jaw. He was busy reading something on the counter, the mixer next to him was turned on. Furiously stirring together something fabulous I was sure. I did not think that he actually saw me standing there across the room. It gave me the opportunity to finally observe him with his guard down.

How had I ever thought this man was normal? Everything about him screamed power, from the wide set of his shoulders to the way he just stood there. Even when he was not moving you could feel the power rolling off of him. I would be lying if I told you that I did not find all that tightly leashed power attractive. What would it take to make him lose control? More importantly what rewards would there be for the girl who got him to give it all in the bedroom? He lifted one of those hands that I had spent such a long time fantasizing about and ran it through his hair. It was then that he looked up to notice me standing there in the middle of the room.

"Wow I thought the cabin kitchen was amazing but this puts that place to shame." I was slightly embarrassed at having been caught staring. I looked around me in order to avoid making eye contact with him, hopefully he would not notice the blush going across my cheeks.

"Good morning Princess, what can I say I like to cook and I also like to eat." He told me with a smile while looking around his kitchen.

The kitchen looked big enough to cook for a small army. The living room and dining room were right next to the kitchen, just like in the cabin. Here the walls were a dark blue color with thick baseboards of dark wood, it matched the paneling that lined the stairwell. There were dark leather couches that looked like you could sink into and never want to come out. The seating area circle a fireplace big enough to roast a pig in, currently the wood was stacked in preparation of a fire but it remained unlit. Jewel toned pillows and blankets strewn across the couches gave the room a much more vibrant color scheme. Pictures and various pieces of art decorated the interior walls, most of the people in the pictures were strangers to me but I could recognize Phil, and his brother in some of them. It kind of irked me that Phila was in many of the pictures, but if they were good friends Phil would be expected to have pictures of her.

The exterior walls were not painted or adorned they alternated with being made of that dull metal material and clear windows giving a view of the pristine winter wonderland outside. It was interesting to note that my bedroom's exterior wall was the same way. Several shelves were pushed up against the dull grey wall, they were filled with various bits and pieces. "So this is your home." It was not a question, this place looked lived in. It looked like he had recently cleaned, but there was too much stuff hanging from the walls for it to be anything but someone's home.

"This is the place I consider to be my home, I have houses everywhere but this is the only place where I can be normal without fear," he looked around the place with a proud smile. "Now what would you like to eat?"

"Do you have any granola?" I had missed the stuff in the past couple of weeks.

Phil laughed, humor just rolling off of him in waves, it was hard not to smile at him a little bit. I was such a sucker for good cooking, I would probably forgive anything Phil did so long as he fed me.

He did not stand around laughing for long, instead he headed to a humongous pantry that had a refrigerator like feel to it and pulled out a metal tin filled with my crack. He pulled some yogurt out of the proper fridge, instead of waiting to be served I started looking in the drawers for a bowl and spoon. I encountered a lot of cooking utensils and gadgets.

Phil let me dig through his stuff without comment, I finally located what I was looking for and took them to the table next to the kitchen. The vase at the center of the large table was made of wood and had been ornately carved. A forest scene with animals, flowers and even a small stream ran across the surface. It was so authentic looking I kept expecting one of the bunnies to jump out onto the table. The vase was filled with evergreen branches and some holly, if the red berries were any indication.

I sat down and put a generous helping of granola into my bowl then I doused it in yogurt. Damn this stuff tasted really good, I was so going to make him teach me the recipe. Having received my granola fix I was ready to get down to business.

"Now what?" I asked Phil, I do not know how much I liked him being in charge of my destiny.

"What do you mean?" He asked making me a plate of breakfast items, the granola must have been an appetizer. My plate included eggs, fried ham, tomatoes and a generous slices of thick brown toast. Phil place the hot sauce and butter next to me along with utensils.

"What can't you just read my mind?" I grumbled at him as he put the large glass of juice next to my plate. "Why am I the only one eating?"

"I am not like Edward, he gets all thoughts, unless I am really concentrating hard I only hear your really loud thoughts." Phil shrugged. "Most of my family can read thoughts in some form or another, so over the years we have learned that it is best to mind our own business and stay out of other people's minds. As for why I am not eating with you. I finished my breakfast a while ago, you slept late and I did not want to wake you up."

It was good to hear that Phil did not constantly dwell into my thoughts, I sure as heck did not need him poking around in my brain. "I mean what happens now? Do we go through some sort of training to become a guardian?"

"Oh you mean the whole you just helped take down the Volturi a few notches?" He finally understood my question.

My mouth was full of eggs so I merely nodded.

"Well let me see, in a few weeks time you will head off to Seattle and start school. It would be best for you to find a job and a place to stay. I am headed off to California to move my practice to Seattle, Carlisle is considering moving his family there as well. I will be closer at hand to help out in case the Volturi have decided they want to try something stupid. Phila already lives there so she does not have to do anything." He ticked all this off on his fingers.

"But that is normal." I said after quickly swallowing the food in my mouth.

"I thought you wanted normal, was I wrong?" Phil asked me, while he put some food on a plate for himself. I guess he had decided to join me and eat again.

"Well yeah but then what the heck was yesterday about?" I was getting confused.

"Yesterday was about several things. First we needed to remind the Volturi about their duty. Second we needed the vampire world to see what the Cullen family is actually capable of. And third we wanted the Volturi to know that we have the Cullen's back, in the past year the Volturi have really become envious of the power they see that Carlisle has. They crave that and this little attack was just the first of many. By taking Carlisle's side we made them hesitate for a moment, they will be a little more cautious before attacking Carlisle in the future." It was comforting to know that we had allies when it came to facing the Volturi, my question was what was the price for this protection.

"But they will attack?" I asked suddenly worried, would they pull out the dead things again if they did. "And will those corpses come out again?"

"Probably not for a couple of years if not decades. Immortals count time differently." Phil said around a bite of his toast. "As for the dead things that the Volturi think make up the power behind the guardians, well that is kind of a stunt. I assure they are completely normal."

"What do you mean they are completely normal?" There was no way those freakish mummy things could ever be seen as normal, not to mention the old women.

"As in you would walk past them in the street without really noticing them, most of them tend to be either my cousins or aunts and uncles. I even played that role a couple of centuries ago."

"Seriously, but why do they look so dead."

"All you have to do is wrap yourself in layers of cloth, the worst part is that you cover your eyes and can't really see. But it is not that hard to navigate without the ability to see. We also use a noise canceling device to muffle our heartbeats and use a chemical to make us rank as death. Maybe that part is the worst, smelling of bloated whale carcass that has been out in the sun for a couple of weeks." He told me with a smile.

"Yeah it definitely stinks to high heaven," I agreed with him. His mentioning centuries reminded me of something he told me last night. "What do you mean you are a grandfather?"

"I have a son who has a son, that makes me a grandfather." Phil told me with a twinkle in his eye. He was doing that again, telling me the truth without actually telling me what I wanted to know.

"I really hate it when you do that. Why don't you just get it out and say it." I told him getting frustrated.

He looked up at me confused. "What would you like to know?"

"How can you be old enough to be a grandfather? That would be a good place to start."

Phil heaved a large sigh before he explained. "Part of what I am makes it so that I do not age."

"So what you are saying is that you are older than you look?" I asked him, obviously he was since he had encountered the Volturi centuries ago. His mouth was full of food so he simply nodded. "And how much older would that actually make you?"

He made a funny face, yeah he did not really want to answer this question. "I don't know exactly, you kind of lose track of the years after a while. But roughly somewhere around two millennia."

"What you are two thousand years old. You are old enough to be a grandpa. So can I call you that...grandpa." This explained a great deal about his attitude and knowledge base. No wonder he could talk circles around me, he had had two thousand years of practice.

"You may not call me grandpa." Phil said narrowing his eyes at me.

"Grandpa it is," I said with a laugh. "Payback is a bitch." I was reminded of our first conversation, when he decided he wanted to call me Princess. I should not be having this much fun harassing a man that could probably annihilate me instantly.

But for some reason looking into his eyes I knew that I was perfectly safe. Like Phila had said, there had been ample opportunity in the past to harm me - and over and over again they did nothing but protect me.

* * *

My head finally stopped spinning to the point where I could ask some important questions. I was expecting that Phil would finally stop being vague and start answering with a little more detail than he had in the past. The secrets were out, I knew that he was not human and he knew that I was not human. I soon found out how wrong I was, he continued to be as ambiguous as when I first met him.

"Hey, answer the question fully." I demanded, punching him on the arm.

Phil cringed, I guess I had used my full strength. "Watch it, some of us do not have your healing abilities."

"So what abilities do you have? And what are you?" I started to get a little more insistent for answers. I may have hit him a little too hard, he got up and started walking around the room. I smiled at the thought that he was getting out of hitting range; that was a good plan while he remained hazy on the details. "Speaking of which what is with the huge house?"

After breakfast he had given me a tour of his home. There were four floors total, which seemed a little excessive for a single guy. He lived here alone, his brother and parents had a house somewhere else on the island. Phila had her own house as well, it was nice to know that they did not live together, but from the sounds of it this place was his ultimate sanctuary - nothing came to this island but family and they too valued their privacy. Apparently even if someone figured out the coordinates to jump to this place those ribbons would tear them to shreds if they tried to go past them.

From what Phil was saying that eventually if he got married his wife would come here and his kids would be raised in this house.

"You have never been married?" I asked him in surprise, I mean if you live for two thousand years you would think he would have done that.

"What can I say, I am somewhat picky when it come to the woman I want to spent the rest of eternity with. Plus this house is not so big if you add another person with their hobbies and a couple of kids." He gave me a dimpled smile, it made sense to build your house a little bigger when you lived for a long time. Especially since it did not sound like they moved, it would be nice to have some room to grow. I noticed that the bottom floor was lived in looking as was his bedroom and study; those two were located a few doors down from my bedroom. The rest of the rooms looked mainly like the one I had spent the night in, with no color on the walls and bare minimum of furniture.

The tour had ended in his sun room, on the top floor of his house. Not that you could see the sun anymore, the sun had disappeared since this morning - large fluffy clouds had moved across the sky blocking out the sunshine. Phil had commented that we would get more snow out of it; this place did not need any more snow. His sun room was like the living room downstairs and filled with all sorts of memento's and such, I had started to notice that he only lived in a few rooms of his house, and the rest were just there for potential use. This room was very well lived in, I am guessing he spent a great deal of time here. It was a very large area, taking up about half of the entire top floor. The room was filled with big deep leather couches that Phil seemed to like, low bookshelves and tables that were covered in things I could not identify. I had pointed out that bookshelves were for books, he explained that most of his books were digital so he did not bother with the paper version.

The floor seemed to be some sort of slate or stone, not that I got to see much of it since it was mostly covered with thick area rugs. I could not see any sort of pattern in the style or colors in the rugs, it was a hodge podge of patterns scattered around the room. It did match the art on the walls, which were just as varied as the rugs. He had what looked to be a large table with all sorts of tools, as well as a half finished vase. I was starting to suspect that the creator of that intricate vase downstairs was in the room with me. I should not have been surprised, he had always been good with his hands. Those long dextrous fingers were more than capable of carving out such awesome creations.

The other portion of the top floor of his house was taken up by an enormous greenhouse. A room filled with raised beds of herbs and vegetables, the humidity in there was almost overwhelming. The ripe tomato I had picked attested to the fact that the plants liked it that way so who was I to complain.

Looking up I could not see anything that I would identify as a roof, it was just large squares of glass between blocks of the silver metal that seemed to make up most of the exterior walls. We were high enough now that I could see above the thick canopy. The house was built into the hillside, the gradient was much more steep than I had realized when we came here last night. There was nothing but ancient trees and hills as far as I could see. I could not tell if there were other houses in the vicinity. Some would be bothered by the fact that there was no sign of "civilization" as far as the eye could see, on my part I was enjoying the solitude.

When he first showed me this room I spent some time poking around trying to see everything, I had finally given up realizing it would take a lot more time than I had. Instead I had sat down on one of the couches propped my feet up on a big ottoman and started questioning Phil.

"So what is this about you being not exactly an alien. The question has a yes or no answer." I told him, the time had come for him to answer all my question.

Phil looked away from the window and came to throw himself down on one of the other couches, it was funny to note that he was out of range. Maybe I should stop abusing him. His pale green eyes had a look of worry in them, was he afraid I would think he was a freak? hello wolf girl here? how much stranger could he get?

"I am an alien in that I was not born on Earth, in fact I was born on this island. Just like every child from my generation." He was looking at my face, trying to gage my reaction to his statement. I just shrugged trying to indicate for him to move on. "My grandmother was born on Earth, she was a fully human."

He stopped for a second and I could not help but prod him to continue, "how do you go from 'fully human' grandmother to being born on another planet?"

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously before making a face. He so did not want to explain this to me. "That is kind of a very long story."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Really? And here I though you could explain in five words or less. Well guess what Marvin, I am currently immortal and you are immortal so I have all the time in the world to listen to your long story."

He gave me a little laugh, maybe he liked my Marvin the Martian reference. Or maybe he liked my snarky commentary about keeping it short, whatever the reason he seemed more relaxed.

"You can't say I did not warn you," he told me before continuing on with his story.

"A long time ago there were some beings that visited our planet, you might call them aliens. But to the people of that time they were gods, as you can imagine the technology of that time consisted of very rudimentary tools - it being the stone age and all that. When you compare that to faster than light travel capabilities it is not a surprise that they were deemed deities.

These aliens ran the gauntlet of personalities, some were good others were bad. Most were somewhere in between the two extremes. They did not see humans as the advanced species we now consider ourselves to be, instead humans were considered a primitive species. Some of them observed the humans, others chose to become more involved in their evolution.

Humans could do nothing as they became the white lab rat of some of these aliens. The full extent of these experiments is unknown to my family, after several thousand years we are still finding evidence of some experiments we had not yet heard of.

There once was a girl who was born completely human on this planet. When she was young she was kidnapped and taken to one of the alien's colonies. Technically her father sacrificed her to the gods. In reality this girl was taken by a couple of scientists. They were a strange collaboration, a geneticist and what you would call a neuroscientist. They were trying to see if they could genetically manipulate humans to make them more intelligent.

Most of their experiments failed, but for some reason they could not figure out they seemed to have succeeded with this girl. The only thing they failed to note was how well they had modified her. She had not only become more intelligent she had acquired some extra skills. Using her talents, she and several other test subjects escaped the facility. The only problem was they were not on Earth, instead they were on a planet that had been terraformed by the aliens.

Many managed to survive for a couple of years without being detected. They may have gone on living their lives out dodging being caught by the police but politics got in the way. The alien council, one that oversees all the colonies had sent an armada after learning of the cruel treatment of test subjects on this planet. There were other labs around that were doing some truly cruel experiments.

The girl and her companions were finally found by a member of the military. Let us just say their first meeting did not go well. He assumed they were weak little humans that needed saving, and the girl assumed he was one of the aliens trying to take her back to the labs. He got his ass handed to him by a tiny human girl, luckily for everyone involved he saw her as a potential ally rather than as an enemy.

Eventually they came to an understanding, Al'dor, the alien, would help them get back to Earth if they would do some jobs for him. It turns out that some other experiments had escaped and some of them were not so nice and were killing the normal humans. On Earth it had gotten to the point where there was less than ten thousand 'pure' humans left. Al'dor wanted the girl to hunt these guys down and put them down. It was not a a very organized operation at first and many mistakes were made costing a great deal of lives from among the girl's group. But they quickly adapted and asked Al'dor for military training as well as some of the alien technology."

"That is a very nice cute story about the girl, but why are you telling me this? Were you recruited by the girl's rebels?" I could not seem to connect the dots.

"I am telling you this because I am one of the descendants a member of the original group. My main job is to keep the alien experiments in check so that they will not wreak havoc with the human population." Phil explained in a patient tone.

"So you are part of some interplanetary police force?" I asked half jokingly.

"Something like that, but we try to be a little more subtle in our dealings. I usually do not go around killing the experiments. Most of them don't even know what I am, blending in with the population is something I have been trained from birth." He gave me a shrug, I had seen him in action. He had managed to avoid detection until he wanted to reveal what he was. Even when we were surprised by those three vampires that I now assumed he had killed, he still managed to keep his secret. I listened as he continued his story, he looked much more relaxed now and had even leaned back in his chair to look up at the clouds passing by above us.

"We have been keeping track of Carlisle for centuries now, we first encountered him when he went to stay at the Volturi court, his steady refusal to drink human blood sparked our interest. We followed him from there as he made his way back across Europe and then to the Americas. We considered approaching him then but were fearful of what would happen if Aro read his mind. It is not like with Edward where you can hide some old thoughts, that old vampire sees everything and all it takes is one touch."

"What made the difference now? Can he not do that still?" I could not help but interrupt.

"Yes he can but now they have Bella, I don't know if you were told this but her ability to shield her mind has expanded to the point where she can shield a group. So it would be easy enough for Carlisle and the rest of the Cullen family to block their thoughts if they encounter the Volturi again. Part of the reason we did not interfere earlier was because we wanted Bella to have a reason to push herself and develop this power."

"Why don't you just get rid of the Volturi once and for all?" That would solve most problems.

"The vacuum in power would be devastating, it would come down to the vampire wars again. That was really a crappy time." He shook his head as if trying to get some unpleasant thoughts out.

"What are the vampire wars?" I asked him confused.

"Ask Jasper about it, he lived through one version of them." Phil gave me a shrug, this was not his story to tell. Let me just say that there are heavy casualties when that happens.

We were made aware of your family the first time he came to Forks. Over the centuries we have been watching over your kind as well, but that gets a little more sporadic. You are harder to spot especially when your genes are not activated. And some of you step out on your relationships. Naughty, naughty." He turned to look at me, humor back in his face as he talked about the infidelities of my ancestors. "It happens more than you would think, our best guess is that one of you meets his true mate but since the genes are not activated it is not a full mating. So they are unbelievably attracted to some other woman while still married to their wives. The full mating would cause the marriage to break up, but with this half version it only leads to them stepping out."

"Why do you keep track of the wolves and vamps?" I was kind of bothered by knowing I had a stalker.

""The original vampires were one of these experiments. We keep up with all experiments and only really intervene if things really get out of hand."

Wow, that was kind of freaky, knowing that vamps were from an alien experiment. A moment later something in his words clicked, "so you keep up with the leeches because they are experiments, but why do you follow us wolves?"

He looked at me without saying anything, in his mind the answer was obvious.

"You are lying, we have our own legend to explain how we came about." I told him in a furious tone. I did not want to know that my ancestors came out of an alien test tube.

"I am sorry to have to tell you this Princess but that really cute story was actually written by one of my family members. It was the easiest way to explain what you were created to do and how you were supposed to do it." Phil told me in a quiet voice. "Everyone here is descendent from those experiments, it does not really change anything. We all carry genes modified by aliens."

It was a little hard to take it all in, and Phil understood my dilemma. It took me a few minutes but I was finally able to formulate my next question. "So what exactly are you? What are you capable of?"

"It really depends on the experiment that we were a part of. The girl I told you about, the one that escaped and started working for Al'dor. That was my mother's mother. You have actually met her, she was the smaller of the decrepit old women, Berenike." Phil explained in a quiet voice.

I was lucky that he was looking away from me, I could not control my facial expressions. That was his grandmother, umm wow.

"She really does not look like that, it was just a glamour. An illusion we project into the minds of those around us." Phil clarified, he must have heard the strange noise that I could not prevent from escaping. "I told you already, we do not age. Bee actually looks about my twenty-five or so."

"What if you stop using your powers, will you age then?" I asked wondering if they were like the werewolves, once we stopped phasing we were supposed to start aging again. According to rumors Sam was supposedly trying to stop phasing so he could age with Emily. That was so sweet, not.

"Using my powers is like breathing for me, I grew up with the full knowledge of who and what I am. I don't think I could stop being myself." He seemed to be giving it some consideration. "I cannot be certain of what would happen if I stopped."

It must have been nice knowing full well what you were and what your capabilities would be. I was still a little angry at the tribal elders of keeping all of it secret until they had no choice but to tell us. I don't know if it would have made much difference had they told us but Bella had been a lot more prepared for what to expect. That probably made her transition into a vampire a lot easier.

"Why not? According to legends I can start to age as soon as I stop phasing." I continued my questioning of Phil.

"Yes because that is what you were designed to do. Vampires in the vicinity turn on your altered genes, and the phasing is kind of a like a positive feedback loop. When there are no vampires and you stop phasing that signal is lost and the genes get turned off."

"So we were really from some alien experiment?" I asked with a sigh, somehow it did not seem that cool. The legends of my people were far preferable to us being born in a lab.

"You were actually made by the same group as the vampires. I don't know the specifics, there are members of my family who are geneticists that specialize in that sort of stuff. They could explain it better." He told me with a shrug. "But I do know that you have the same genetic markers as the vampires." He turned back around and gave me a big smile. "So you guys are sort of related. Like cousins."

"You know what they say. Ignorance is bliss." I said grumbling. Then I realized he had completely distracted me from my line of questioning. "You still have not told me about yourself."

"Let me see, I am sort of an improved human. A little stronger, faster, and more durable. I am nothing in that department compared to you guys or the vampires. Most of my powers are tied to my mind." He told me with a smile, he was being deliberately vague. I wonder if he knew how much it bothered me and was trying to get a rise out of me.

"That does not sound very cool, how could you kill those vampires?" He was downplaying his skills I was certain of that fact.

"Lots of practice, and years of training. Speaking of practice, you are going to make dinner for us. So let us get started." I take it the explanations were over for the day, not that I minded.

After we started the soup, Phil talked me into going outside with him for a while. We got into a small argument as to how many layers I needed to be wearing in order to go outside. Phil ended up winning only because he threatened me with bodily harm.

"So you are going to hurt me if I don't dress warm enough, and you are doing this because you are trying to protect me from the cold?" I was trying to point out his stupid logic.

"Pretty much, it is your choice Princess." He have me a narrow eyed glare, and I gave up trying to argue. I had learned to pick my battles with Phil.

We ended up climbing several trees around the house, some of the branches had been weakened since the last snowfall and needed to be cut before they came crashing down on his fence.

Phil was surprisingly agile when climbing trees, but it was his descent that freaked the hell out of me. He just stepped of and landed softly at the bottom of the tree, as easily as if he had just stepped of a curb.

"Remind me never to take you cliff diving, you would be a total spoilsport." I yelled at him from the top of the tree before I descended in a more conventional way.

We were just about done when my pack stopped by the house, Phila had led them to the right place but she immediately left again, muttering something about it being Phil's turn to babysit.

We ended up back in the house, with Phil making us hot chocolate and starting the fire. He was a very brave man to let the boys roast marshmallows in his fireplace. I would not have trusted a group of obnoxious teenage boys with flaming balls of goo in my house. We served them the soup I had made for dinner, now I understood why Phil had insisted we make such a large batch of ham and pea soup. The boys did not stay long after eating, Phil and I ended up sitting on the couch reading. He had loaned me one of his silver tablet things and I started reading some mystery he recommended. It was almost like we were back in the cabin, except this time it was better - I no longer had to hide a part of myself from him. Unfortunately for Phil this equated to him being punched a lot more when he annoyed me, but he took it like a man.

It was when I was going to bed that I realized my mother would be searching frantically for me. I was about to go ask for a phone when I realized Phil had probably covered for me, he was always good about telling my mother what we were doing. But I would be sure to ask the next day.

* * *

A/N: All right girls I hope this chapter helped clarify a lot of things. There is of course more but like Leah you will probably getting it in smaller packets later on.

ABarbieStory: Glad you like it, hopefully this chapter answered most of your questions.

Twilighter: Yeah about jailbait, I need to get back to him, he has been neglected. But Leah has been taking up most of my time.

Connect2tjb: Is this making more sense than last time?

Keither Serenity: Interesting name, glad you like the story. :D


	21. Normal life

20 - Normal life

Since I had gone to bed at a regular hour, I woke up before the sun had made it above the tree the next morning. The bright coming from the windows was still a little annoying, I would have to talk to Phil about curtains if I was going to spend any time here.

_You pretty much have considered moving in for a while. _That pesky voice was going to get its ass kicked, too bad it resided in the back of my head. I am only pointing out the truth. It continued to annoy me.

"I have officially gone crazy, getting into a fight with my own brain." I got out of bed, stepping onto one of the newly acquired rug. Some might consider it stealing but since I only moved it from Phil's sunroom to my bedroom I would have to call it redecorating. Too bad I had not seen any curtains, but those might have been harder to move.

I found my own breakfast, Phil had made the tactical mistake of showing me where he kept the granola. His supply would not last for long, I should drop a few hints that he needed to make some more.

I eventually found Phil on the top floor, he was going through and weeding the plants in his small greenhouse. "You are really starting to disappoint me, here you are supposed to be some awesome alien experiment and all you do is household chores."

"Are you complaining about my cooking skills?" He went to a large sink and washed the dirt off of his hands, his eyes crinkling with humor.

"Yeah, yeah. Threaten my food supply why don't you. Seriously though why am I here? Other than to keep you entertained, which apparently is my only purpose here. I can fight if that is what you need." I had come to accept the alien thing fairly easily, but now I was ready to have some sort of purpose. I got the impression that this secret was not something that was shared with just anyone and it made me wonder yet again why the heck they had included my pack. I followed Phil into the sunroom, now I knew how it had been named, the large windows let in copious amounts of sunlight. The entire room was flooded with warmth, making me want to just lay down on one of the couches and sleep the morning away. That was not an option right now, Phil was actually explaining things.

"We do not need you to fight, we just need you to set the good example. Actually it is Carlisle and his family that are here to set the good example, you are here for several reason. One of the main ones is that Nessie and Jake are imprinted and it was deemed unwise to keep them apart." I knew Phil well enough to know that he was holding out on me, there was another reason but he was not telling me. Based on the way his mouth was curling up I knew it would be useless to try to get it out of him.

"The world is getting to be a smaller place. Where before the vampires could get away with unusual behavior now people are starting to notice. It might not be good for the human race to figure out that we walk among them. My family fears that it might come out to outright war if the humans ever figured it out. We are talking Salem Witch Trials but on a global scale." He was giving me the worst case scenario, and the world he was describing was not a pleasant place to live. I could see why they were going through these elaborate plans to prevent it.

"If it came to that I could kick their asses." I told him but he must have heard the uncertainty in my voice. Being hunted twenty four seven might not make life very fun.

Phil could not help but laugh. "Princess you would not stand a chance and we both know it, but the worst part of it would be the innocent humans that would be tortured because they could be something supernatural." Phil continued to explain the possible future, while I waited to see what our role was in all of this. "That will be avoided, we make sure the secret is kept safe. Carlisle's lifestyle choice will help a great deal."

"So it is just circumstance that made you pick us, in reality all you wanted were the vampires." The knowledge that the wolves were picked just because we happened to hang out with vamps made me feel more than a little hurt.

"I am tempted to go and beat Sam into a bloody pulp, that little shit did a serious number on you." He growled looking angry, I don't think I had ever heard him swear before. "You give yourself too little credit, having your pack as allies makes the Cullen family much stronger. In the past year how many times have you helped save them from destruction?"

He did not wait for me to answer his question, instead he went on with his explanation. "What we need the Cullen to do is set the good example as to how to blend in with humans, how not to get noticed. They don't really have to preach it, just live it. We are essentially giving them the protection of the guardians so that they can survive long enough to show other vampires an alternative lifestyle that would allow them greater anonymity."

"So you just need us to help you watch the Cullen's back? And encourage others to eat more Bambi?" Helping the Cullen family to make a world with fewer human eating vampires seemed like a nice goal. But there goes any plans of stopping this whole phasing business and settling down with some nice human man that I imprinted on. Heaving a sigh I decided not to worry about it until it actually happened, it was not like I could do anything about it right now. And the way things were going I would end up imprinting on some guy who saw me and ran for the hills.

I felt Phil lightly kick my foot, "hey Princess stop thinking such dark thoughts, you are going to give yourself wrinkles."

I flipped him off, "we both know that all I have to do is continue to phase and I won't be age." That was one of the few perks of being a wolf, not having to worry that not taking the best care of my body will lead to consequences down the road. "But speaking of abilities, you never told me what yours are?"

"It depends on what the aliens did to us." Phil told with a shrug as he stood up and started to pace across the room. Again I was amazed at myself for not seeing it earlier, the grace with which he moved across the room was not something that could be achieved by a human. In all our ramblings and hikes he had never once been out of breath, that should have given me a big clue. The other fact was that not once was he intimidated by any of the other wolves, most humans instinctively knew that we were dangerous. Phil had not been afraid, even when he was faced with Sam's full on glare - in fact he had gone so far as to provoke Paul during that awful party. The problem was that in retrospect I could see all the reasons why I should have been suspicious but nothing had stood out at the time. Nothing had screamed run for the hills he is an alien experiment, Phil was right in that he was very good at blending in. I was also starting to suspect that he let down his guard around me a lot more than other people. He tended to be very playful with me, but with others he was a little more aloof. I was starting to suspect that he did not often let people in, not that he had let me all the way in. _You are the only one who was invited to stay at his house, everyone else was taken elsewhere._

Phil had stopped in front of one of the infinite windows, looking outside. I got the impression he did not see the ancient snow covered trees.

"Well then tell me about you specifically." I clarified. He was still so sketchy on the details as he continued to stand there with his back to me. Not that I did not appreciate the view of his very nice ass encased in jeans but I wanted to know more about the man behind those fascinating pale green eyes. "So how did those wrapped up guys appear and disappear? Can you do that?" That looked kind of cool, especially now that I knew they were not out to get us. I could still not quite picture them as normal looking, even the way they had moved had been freaky.

"Jumping." He said in a matter of fact voice, like I was somehow supposed to know what the heck he was talking about. He turned around to look at me, and must have noticed my confused look because he continued with his explanation. "Our ability to bend space, we call that jumping. Going large distances or through time takes some calculating. But if you can see where you want to go, you can forgo your calculations and just go for it."

"What would happen if you don't do the calculations?" I remember the metal thing he had used the other night, the one that had coated his fingers in some sort of light. That must have been what he used to make the calculations.

"We call that a blind jump, sometimes when we get really desperate we do that as a last resort. If you don't get it right you can end up anywhere. And that is when the fun begins..." He turned back around to look outside but this time something had caught his attention, so he did not finish his sentence.

I moved to stand next to him, there was someone who had just cleared the woods and was swiftly heading for his front door. I did not recognize the person, they were bundled up against the cold weather. "Who is that?"

"Phila," he said without moving. I heard the front door open and close, followed by footsteps on the stairs a few minutes later.

"Good afternoon guys," Phila said with a smile as she appeared. She had removed her outerwear to reveal a cute pink sweater set matched with a pair of designer jeans. She made herself at home on one of the deep couches. "So what are you two doing?"

"Leah is trying to figure out what we are capable of. According to her I am not explaining it adequately." Phil said with a laugh.

"Good luck getting a straight answer out of him, he takes his psychic abilities a little too seriously." Phila's tone was a little frustrated, I must not have been the only one he did this to. "Your best bet is to get him at an unguarded moment and just try and read his mind."

"He is psychic? How?" It seems that Phila was more willing to answer questions so I moved to sit down on the couch that was next to hers.

"He is capable of seeing the future. He gets snippets here and there, but when his eyes go the psycho purple he sees something more detailed." Phila said pulling an ottoman closer to the couch so that she could put her feet up.

I looked back and forth between the two. "So you can see the future, like Alice?"

"No I see images, they do not come with instructions. Sometimes they are of the past, sometimes the future. It is not always helpful, sometimes it is more of a hinderance." I could tell Phil was trying to downplay this ability, he seemed uncomfortable talking about it.

"So did you see my pack or something, is that why you came to Washington?" I started to ask him. "Wait a minute, was you meeting up with me in the diner planned?"

"Not really, I was actually there trying to gather information. But when the opportunity to meet you presented itself I took it." He brought out the big guns, his dimples, I could not get upset with him especially since he seemed sincere in that he had not planned on waylaying me in the diner.

"So did you know who I was?" I asked, just how much did this family know about mine.

I heard a noise behind me, Phila seemed to be choking on something. Though I had no idea what it was, considering she was not eating or drinking anything. I narrowed my eyes at her, trying to figure out what her problem was.

"My family has known about the werewolves for some time as I told you before. Other members of the family had been keeping an eye on the situation before we took over." Phil swiftly explained, taking my attention away from Phila and her coughing. "I guess it was our turn for guard duty."

Before I could ask who had been stalking me the past few months Phila answered my question. "Phil and I were the ones to take over Josefine and Kendrick's job. In the family we tend to work in groups of two, always with the same partner. We train together, go to school together, and we even live together most of the time when we are not on the island."

"So Josefine and Kendrick are partners, and you and Phil are partners?" I turned back to her. Those were the two we met when coming on the island, the really tall tattooed guy along with the woman who would not show her face.

Phila seemed to have recovered from her choking episode. I wondered for a moment what exactly partners meant. "It is what you think it is, we work together as a team during our extracurricular activities. Sometimes we are more than partners, but it is never permanent." Phila said with a shrug. She answered my question completely without me having to ask, but then I remembered she too could read my mind.

_Great so this was his off and on girlfriend, I could see how they would make a cute couple. Gag._ For some reason this did not sit well with me. Maybe it was because I had been spoiled and wanted Phil's friendship all for myself, I was not very good at sharing. I was afraid that I had come to rely on Phil a little too much, but at the same time you needed a friend you could count on. One think occurred to me, it seemed Phil would not freak out and run for the hills when he figured out I was not completely human, in fact he had known all along and still became friends with me.

I had been so absorbed in my own thoughts that I forgot what we had been talking about, Phila was a lot like Phil and had not needed to fill the silence with pointless babble. I guess that was one thing I liked about her. "So where are the other members of my pack?" I noticed she had not brought them along today.

"Aunt Jazz has them in hand. Well all except Embry, he seems a little antsy." Phila explained.

"What is wrong with Embry?" I asked suddenly worried, he had seemed fine yesterday though he was a little too quiet. Here I was absorbed in my own little world and woes not even thinking about my other pack members. I had not changed as much as I would like to believe in the past few months, I was still preoccupied with my own pathetic self.

"Nothing is wrong with him," Phil quickly reassured me. "He seems to have imprinted on a member of my family."

"Really? When did this happen?" Well I guess this answered the question as to whether or not we would be hanging out with the guardians, or the family as they like to call themselves. Another tie to bind us to this group, not that I minded that much.

"You were actually there when he met Stef. I have to admit that was unexpected." Phila said with a small laugh, then she turned to Phil. "Some psychic you are, how could you miss that one?" She said this with a smile so I was thinking she was not really serious here.

"Wait, which one was Stef?" I asked before Phil could respond to his partner's taunting.

"The one with my brother, the small one with the funny markings on the face." Phil explained turning back and sticking his tongue out at Phila. For being really old Phil tended to act like a junior high kid at times.

I went through my memories quickly and tried to remember a girl with strange markings on her face, but I could not remember anyone like that. The only one that had those strange marking was the small teenage boy that had been with the huge ugly guy that had introduced himself as Phil's brother.

"She looks confused. So was Embry for a second but then he just went with it. I don't think Stef knows yet." Phila said while I was trying to put two and two together.

_Wait a minute, Embry had imprinted on that small boy? _I could not think for a moment, but I guess stranger things had happened, like Jake imprinting on a newborn half-vampire. I hesitantly asked if Embry was alright.

"His only problem is that Myles and Stef will not be back for a month or so. He will have to go that long without talking to his mate." Phila said with a small smile. I guess she found this slightly amusing, even I could see how it would be funny in a twisted sort of way. I used to think that all I wanted to do was imprint so that this aching gnawing feeling of love lost would go away, but now I was thinking there could be worse things. Like imprinting on a small alien boy. It also helped that the aching feeling had settled down to a throbbing dull pain, Sam was not exactly the man I had pictured him to be.

"Can't you call them back?" I wondered how upset Embry would be without his mate. I think even Quil went to see Claire at least once every couple of days.

"They are in the middle of a very delicate operation, or we would call them." Phil explained.

"They are partners?" I asked, starting to see a pattern.

"Yes, they are." Phil smiled at me, maybe he was pleased that I was starting to figure things out. Maybe he was being his overly happy self. " Speaking of obligations, I have to go take care of something at the big house. So if you want to see your pack today Phila can take you to Aunt Jazz's house."

"What are you doing?" I asked doubting that he would actually answer.

"If you want to know, I am going to check on the skin grafts that are growing for the little girl they brought in two days ago." He explained as we headed down the stairs.

"The one that was dead?" I asked.

He went through some detailed explanation about preserving brain function but stopped about half way when I gave him a blank look. "She will be fine." I guess he would know, he was the psychic. This seemed to prove he really was a doctor and hand not been faking it for the background cover story.

So we headed out into the snow, Phil was just as psycho about me wearing warm clothes, despite the fact that I told him several times that I did not get cold. Like yesterday he insisted on a warm jacket and big thick boots, as well as hats, scarves, and thick gloves. I don't think I had ever been this bundled up in my entire life. When I pointed this out to him all he countered with the fact that I had never lived somewhere this cold before. The only good thing about it that all the clothes were my size. He must have stocked up on the appropriate clothes in my size, he certainly seemed to be a guy that planned everything out. I could appreciate that and the fact that I did got to wear clothes my size.

"So what do you think?" Phila asked as we walked past an especially beautiful bush covered with bright red berries. Phil had gone in another direction and had left us with a warning to stay warm.

"Pretty, holly is it not?" I asked while touching a prickly green leaf. I had pulled off the gloves as soon as Phil was out of sight, I really did not like my hands covered. I heard Phila laugh behind her scarf but she did not say anything.

We encountered many different animal tracks as we moved through the large trees, but only rarely did we run across a set of footprints left by boots. The winter wonderland seemed undisturbed by humans, which was a little bit disconcerting. Even in the most quiet times on the Rez I could still hear cars in the background as well as the dull sounds of airplanes moving overhead. This place was nothing like that, this is what Earth sounded like before humans had come along. The other sound that was missing was the sound of water, I could not hear any brooks or streams gurgling, they must all be frozen over.

"Holly." Phila confirmed my identification of the plant I was touching.

"It is strange I feel like we are still on Earth but at the same time I don't think we are. Should the plants not be different?" I was not a biologist by any means but I would think the plants would not be the same on another planet.

"Bee liked the earth ecosystem, it reminded her of the times when she was a little girl. So when they terraformed this planet they used earth plants and animals." Phila explained.

"Bee?" The family was filled with so many people, it was starting to be hard to keep up with everyone's names.

"Berenike. My grandmother?"

"How can she be your and Phil's grandmother?" I was getting confused again, so were Phil and Phila related or were they partners. I guess they could be both but then why had Phila hinted at the fact that they were once lovers.

"Bee is Phil's biological grandmother, my parents were adopted by Bee. So I call her my grandmother too."

I could understand how that could happen. This family seemed to gather people, it was trying to gather my pack. I don't know how I felt about being another acquisition, Phila did not seem to be bothered by the fact that it had happened to her parents. Honestly though it would be nice to be around people who you did not have to hide yourself from.

"Both my parents were raised by her. Kind of creepy if you really think about it." Phila made a silly face.

I shrugged, I did not want to voice my opinion. It was kind of strange, I got the impression that Phila knew a lot more about me than I knew about her. I wondered how much Phil had talked about me, but he seemed reticent about sharing information. I somehow doubted Phil as the source of her knowledge, so she had acquired her information from stalking me. I do remember the feeling of being watched several times in the past months. I did not really like that thought, so I decided not to ask Phila about it. Ignorance is bliss about some things.

The conversation kind of died down after that, but silence did not seem to bother Phila.

We were going through the forest at a human pace, Phila was not too interested in walking any faster. Maybe this was her normal speed, but I remember Phil keeping a swifter pace on our numerous hikes. "Where are we going exactly?"

"Aunt Jazz's house, if you want to meet the pack or we can go elsewhere if you like." Phila said without changing her pace.

"Who else's house could we go to?" I asked curious not really expecting her to actually answer.

"Elvis?" Phila said with a straight face.

"You are kidding?" I said, not that I was an Elvis fan or anything. There were rumors that he went back to his own planet.

"Yeah I am," she answered laughing out loud. It echoed of the hills and became more erie sounding.

"We can see the library, or go down to the horse ranch. We can go do anything we like. If you want we can go see my parents, though they might be distracted by grandchildren today."

It was kind of strange, everything seemed totally normal, like I was not on another planet. Then I remembered my mother, she must be worried sick by now. "We have been gone almost two days, is there a way I could call my mother to tell her I am fine?"

Phila quickly reassured me about "island time". Since they bent space or whatever they did I could spend a couple of months if not years here and still be able to make it home before dinner to see my mother. I have to say I was relieved, my mother had enough things to worry about that I did not want to add to it.

We got back onto the topic of how long Stef and Myles would be gone, and what exactly they were doing. Phila did not share many details, but when she quickly explained that she simply did not know I was a little mollified.

"This imprinting thing seems somewhat strange. You normally don't see it." Phila commented.

"Do you mean it does not happen with your kind?" I asked curious. The vampires did not have anything like our imprinting either, we had always assumed it was because of our "animal nature".

"We do have something called binding in some members of the family, but we do not become as mindlessly obsessed with the objects of our affection. We would not do anything for our mate but we will go to great lengths to protect them. The only outward sign really is that we become very, very happy." Phila noted.

I laughed at her, remembering how happy Phil always seemed especially when I first met him. "I hope it never happens to Phil, because I don't think I could handle him being happier than he already is."

I looked over at Phila, was that a hint of mischief in her expression? It quickly changed to something more serious.

"We do hope something like that happens to us." Phila clarified. "Those of us with these strange green eyes we were all from the same experiment or at least one of our ancestors was. Anyway my point is that my kind does't form relationships like normal people do."

She went on to tell me about the experiment she came from, the goal of which was to make assassins that felt nothing. The experiment was not completely successful, it made them have a hard time feeling empathy for strangers but on the opposite spectrum they would get very attached to who they considered to be family. Binding was their only way to attach to outsiders in a romantic way, I did not fully understand what she was saying. She seemed nice to me, but she might already consider me family. Though this might explain why Phil never seemed to genuinely smile at anyone but me, he must have considered me family or something.

Phila was a lot more willing to answer my question, so I slowed my pace to her amble as we walked through the woods. Only once did I ask her if she knew where we were going.

"I have been walking through these woods for nearly two thousand years, even Phil does not get lost here." I could hear the smile in her voice.

It turned out that Phil's inability to navigate was somewhat of a family joke, especially since he had a GPS chip implanted in his skull.

"He thinks it is a good plan to deactivate his GPS, he tells me he is training his brain to learn how to navigate. I keep telling him if it has not worked in two millennia it certainly is not going to kick in now." Her tone was a little frustrated, I guess she had been dealing with this for a while.

"Not that I don't appreciate it but why is it that you answer my questions where Phil won't?" I finally asked her.

She made a face, for a moment I though she was going to start leaving things out like Phil had, but luckily for my curiosity it turned out she was just trying to find a way to make me understand.

Phil's mother came from a long line of psychics, not from Earth of course. In certain places on that planet being psychic was tantamount to having blue eyes. In other words it was very common. Over the generations people had learned how to live with being able to see the future, and one of those lessons was that telling people all about their future was not always the best course of action.

"I could see why you would not tell people everything, surprises can be nice at times. But Phil says absolutely nothing about the future or the past." I mumbled under my breath, she still must have heard me.

"You pretty much described most of his family," Phila said with a laugh, it still sounded perfect but it was not bothering me anymore. My initial impression that I was going to hate this woman had receded. She was answering questions, that scored major points in my book.

We had moved down the incline to a valley of sorts, and were walking next to a slow moving river. Its cool clear waters were not frozen like the rest of the area. I could see small silver fish darting in and about the rocks, they were swimming with all their might against the current as they picked algae off the rocks. My sympathies were with the fish, I know what it feels like to fight with all your might against the current of life as it tries to sweep you away. I had been swimming in my own little stream when life had thrown me into a raging river last spring. I had mostly lost the battle against that torrent, now I felt like I had been thrown into yet another creek but this time I did not know which way I was supposed to be going.

I listened to Phila as she continued her explanation.

"Imagine if a psychic told you something bad was going to happen. Would you sit around and say 'all right that is fine, so what if I die in a month?' No you would be furiously trying to do anything and everything in your power to change that future. At times it is the actual altering of your life in anticipation of the bad event that brings it on."

"So what? They have the psychic powers and they don't share their vision?" I could understand that, but what I could not understand was the utter reluctance of Phil to say anything about himself.

"Some of his reluctance is he does not want to alter your future. There was a reason we only intervened with the Volturi at the last possible minute." I looked away from the struggling fish to Phila. She had the same expression I had seen on Phil at times, one completely wiped of emotions. She was telling this story as if she had no interest in it, but I kept getting the impression that the opposite was true.

I was getting angry and frustrated, what were they hiding? Now that she reminded me of the Volturi, I would like to ask her why the fuck they did not help us a little sooner? It would have saved me days of worry and absolute depression.

I don't know if she was reading my extra loud thoughts or if it was apparent on my face what I was thinking but fortunately Phila swiftly answered my internal question.

"I do not think you comprehend just how much power this family has, we can kill most things with just a thought if we wanted to. Your pack and the Cullen family had to know what you are capable of, because if you join our family we have your back. Anyone outside of the family messes with you and no matter what it costs us we protect you. You were willing to sacrifice your life to protect your family, that is our primary belief as well. Anything to protect the family, no matter what you have to do. We needed you to know this before you joined us."

She stopped talking as we continued our trip through the forrest. She must have known I needed some time to mull things over. So this past month could have been prevented by the family but instead they let us suffer. I could get really furious with them for letting us be that miserable for nearly a month - a year or so ago that is exactly how I would have felt. The past year had given me enough time to consider their point of view, we had learned something. No one abandoned ship, when things were tough we all stuck together, even when we were facing certain death. If we were going to be navigating this whole new ocean, with its aliens and genetic experiments, we would need to know with certainty who our allies are and what they are willing to do. From what Phila was telling me it was pretty much anything, with the possible exception of exposing the family secret. In the past month I had doubted Alice when she abandoned us that one day, but I had learned how wrong my assumptions were. If she ever did something like that again I would never doubt her.

My thoughts finally settled down enough to realize that Phila had directed me away from my initial line of questioning. She had smiled when I told her this.

"I think it was you who chose to change the subject but as for your initial question. Phil is a complicated person to explain, there is a great deal to him. He has had two thousand years of experience which has shaped him into the man he is today. On top of that he has the genetics of three different experiments in him. He is somewhat of a mutt, but that is what makes him so much more powerful than I am." I don't know if this was an excuse or an explanation but I decided to use it as the latter. I could understand how hard it would be to try to explain a person who has that much history. My father used to always say actions are louder than words, and as much as Phil had not told me about himself I would have to be blind not to notice what he had shown me. He had been nothing but kind to me even when I was being a total bitch. In his shoes I would have slapped me around a little bit and told me to get over myself; I was lucky he was a lot more patient that I was. I recalled he was a father, maybe that is where he had learned patience.

"So where is Phil's son?" I asked out of curiosity. It was at this point when I made the connection, if Phil was a father, where was the mother?

"Phil's son is on another planet, he does not live here." She said leading me up a well worn path through the snow. This place had seen a great deal of foot traffic recently. There were many layers of scents, some of them were from my own pack and some I could not identify.

"Why not?" I asked almost belligerently. I was in the dark and confused about most things but I had figured out a few things. One of these was that every member of the family lived here, on the island - this was their home. I did not like having one of the few facts I knew contradicted.

"He is not family," Phila said simply, I had noticed that she would say things like I actually was supposed to know what the hell she was talking about.

"Hey, explain." I said, noticing how comfortable I had gotten around this woman. I had lost most of my initial animosity, this was partially due to the fact that she willingly answered my questions and also because she was a likable sort of person.

"Phil's son is adopted, his biological parents are dead. The boy does not have the right genetics to become a member of the family, so Phil raised him on his native planet. He was told nothing about the family, and believes Phil is completely normal."

She went on to explain about how members of the family would live out entire lifetimes with unsuspecting humans, but the one rule was they could never have kids. In order to have children they had to bring their spouse into the family, and he or she would be genetically altered so that their genes would match enough to have a viable child.

Before meeting the family I had believed that it would be insanely hard trying to explain imprinting to some guy, and it would be even harder convince a guy it was ok that I could turn into a giant wolf, I could not imagine how much harder it would be to explain to someone that they would have to go through some freakish genetic remodeling in order to actually stay together; what would happen if you were not compatible? Bella seemed happy about it, and did not seem to have any regrets changing into a vampire for Edward.

"The other reason is things can get very weird amongst us and I think we all want your family to join ours. We are somewhat reluctant to show you everything all at once." We were approaching a clearing now, I could see hints of something large through the trees. There were also more noises, people were talking but we were still too fa away for me to understand the words.

"How much freakier can you get than turning into a giant wolf?" I asked fishing for more information.

"How about sharing your mind with another...well spirit would be the best term for it?" She asked asked slowing down her steps.

"Seriously?" I stopped walking altogether and looked at her face, trying to determine if she was joking again.

"Phil is like that, it is the reason for his 'visions'. The thing inside his head takes over his mind and shows him the images. The worst part of it is that sometimes it has its own agenda, with its own needs, usually they coincide with Phil's wants but not always. That is why his eyes turn purple, the spirit is trying to tell him something. Sometimes it gets frustrated, hence the severe headaches that get so bad he goes blind with them. That headache he had, that was not the worst thing that could happen. There are times when all I can do it pump him full of pain killers and keep him semi-conscious until the spirit finally lets him loose from its grip." She was watching my reaction, probably trying to figure out if she had told me too much.

I shuddered at the memory of finding Phil sick that one morning, and now she was telling me that it could get worse. Fortunately I was distracted from my vivid visions of Phil going blind with pain by the appearance of Jake in wolf form. He made a little excited yipping sound before trying to jump on me.

After dodging the large wolf, I ran for the clearing hoping to find some sort of shelter there - instead I was jumped by my little brother. My worries about Phil were forgotten as I landed in a large snowbank. If they wanted war, that is what they were going to get. I gathered a large handful of snow onto my hands before smashing it into Quil's wolf head.

I met a lot of people over the course of the evening, including Aunt Jazz. After a while the faces seemed to blur. There was one overall impression I did get, and that was they were a family. This impression did not change over the next couple of weeks. We finally decided for certain that we would join the family, since we did not really have to do anything other than keep their secret. Jake pretty much thought we were asked only because they wanted Carlisle, he was pretty sure the family was grooming him to be the next Volturi. I did not think that way anymore but I kept my opinion to myself.

I spent a great deal of time with Phil, gathering bits and pieces from his house and adding it to my room. Phil said he was going to have to change my name to magpie. We talked about my "new" car, dorm rooms, and what classes I wanted to take during my first semester of college. My dreams were back on track, I knew I would have to work hard to make them happen, but I was not afraid. What could possibly be worse than an army of vampires?

I should have known better, I mean fate really had it out for me. How was I supposed to know that my future roommates could be more scary than an entire army of vampires.

At the end of the two weeks we went back to the Cullen's house. My half eaten sandwich was still in the corner where I had left it. Phil was not exaggerating, it was exactly the same as when we left it. My mother was waiting for us when we got home, our reassurances that everything was fine did not seem good enough for her.

Phil had been right about another thing, life went back to "normal" for me. I got Jake to check out my car to make sure it would work, I started to look for some place to stay, and more importantly for a job. I was getting a little excited at the prospect of college. It seemed surreal, here I had just spent two weeks on another planet, and I was worrying about things like how I was going to pay for rent.

* * *

A/N: That is kind of the conclusion of really the first part of the story. Leah has found a much happier place, she no longer has to hide what she is from Phil and vice versa (sort of :D). Now comes the fun times. College party time? Nah kidding.

ABarbieStory: Did Phila's explanation do it for you? No Phila will not just blurt it out, and I will explain later why that is; that might take a while longer though.

Thoshii519: Thanks for taking the time to write, Phil is a likable fellow. But he is not done yet, but I am sure you know that.

Connect2tjb: I am glad this makes sense to you, at times I know the explanation in my head but it is hard to get it down on paper without making it sound like a scientific journal article.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you like the explanations, obviously Leah has not been told everything but Phila hopefully explained partially why Phil is reluctant.

Twilighter: I have the jailbait chapter in my head, all I have to do is spend the couple of days writing it down. I was kind of waiting for there to be a stopping point in Leah's story - maybe, Leah still is hogging most of my time.

Keither Serenity: Why she is the only female werewolf is something that will come up in later chapters, as to why she hasn't imprinted or if Phil is actually her true love? - I plead the fifth :D.


	22. College Life

21- College Life

"Come on Leah, we are going to be late for class if you don't hurry up." My roommate Jenny was moving around the room with too much perkiness for this early in the morning. I contemplated murder, but then I would have to get out of bed to do the deed. Jenny did not know how close she came to death before I rolled over and tried to pull my pillow over my head, I ended up falling out of bed. Sometimes it stunk being over six feet tall, especially when you had to sleep in a twin sized bed. I usually had a choice between either my feet or my head hanging off the end. I cursed the alien that had chosen to add tall genes to the werewolf package. May that bastard rot in his alien version of hell and be forced to sleep for eternity in a bed too small. A bed rusty nails that are too small, I added while rubbing my bruised ass.

I quickly pulled on some jeans and a t-shirt, my college uniform. Jenny was waiting impatiently by the door tapping her foot when I got back from brushing my teeth.

"Good thing you showered last night, or we would be completely late." She told me while she pulled on her jacket. She of course was freshly showered, her newly highlighted brown hair was straightened with meticulous care, her make-up was light but perfect. I pulled out a cap from under my bed, and voila my hair was done.

"There is no way I am fighting the crowds in the morning for a shower, especially these girls. I thought teenage boys were bad." I shuddered at the memory of my first morning here. I had thought that an hour and a half to get ready to go would be plenty of time but I had not counted on the fact that there were no empty shower stalls. Needless to say I did not get a shower that morning, but I learned to shower at night instead.

I did not really care what my hair looked like, this was college, not a fashion show. I had voiced this opinion to Jenny in one of the common rooms, I might as well have stabbed every girl in the back while telling them their butts were huge. If I had not been committing social suicide it would have been kind of funny how all the girls gasped perfectly in unison.

There was one good thing that came out of all of that, Jenny proved herself to be a true friend. Some of the other girls, well let us just say we did not spend friday nights braiding each other's hair.

Jenny was from a small town in Idaho, she had told me the name of the town once but I had promptly forgot it. She had chosen University of Washington to see the world a little before she headed back to the "bumpkin world" - her words, not mine. She was somewhat of a shy girl, and spoke very quietly except in the mornings when I wanted her to shut up. It was obvious that she had led a very sheltered life, but her lack of experience seemed to be mainly due to her choice. From what she had told me if you really wanted to, you could find trouble even in a small town; her three older brothers had managed to do that.

US History was my first class on Wednesday mornings, Jenny was in there with me. Since I had started a semester late I was taking the first semester parts of all my freshman courses. Jenny had failed this class and had to repeat it, I spent a lot of time helping her study, it was a good thing because teaching her helped me learn the material better. History class was one of my favorites, my grade reflected the fact that I loved it.

It was raining when we got outside, but this was Seattle I would have been surprised had it not been raining.

"You forgot your jacket again, you will be cold." Jenny pointed out as she zipped up her own stylish jacked. "As often as you forget your coat I am surprised you have not caught pneumonia yet."

"Darn it, oh well I will manage somehow. It is too late to back for one now." I replied as we jogged across campus to get to the right building. It was infinitely frustrating trying to pretend to be normal at all times, living in the dorm I never got to just be myself. That is why I had started to hang around Phila's apartment, I did not have to be normal with her. Plus she always had food in her fridge, Phil had started to teased me about the amount of time I spent at Phila's place. He had suggested that I might have to help with the grocery shopping soon.

Recently I had not been able to see much of Phil, I would probably have missed him a lot more had I not been so busy. He was still working in LA for the next month or so as he closed his practice there. As a doctor you could not just up and leave any time you wanted, you had to make sure your patients would be taken care of after you left.

"Are you ready for the test?" Jenny asked me nervously as we approached the large lecture hall where we had our class.

"I think so, it is the only one of my classes that I feel confident in," I told her with a sigh. "I have an English paper due right after my test."

"That sucks, whatever you do don't take it to the writing center. I took my last paper there so that they could check it, and it still had grammatical errors." Jenny complained. "They are really piling it on us, I have a pre-cal test this afternoon. I swear all our professor got together and planned it like this." She grumbled, "I bet they were laughing as they said 'Let us slam them as hard as possible the week before spring break.' It is not like we need sleep or anything."

"You know what they say, it is not paranoia if they really are out to get you." I deliberately joked, hoping to lighten the depressed mood. "I had a friend look my paper over for me, so I feel pretty confident about it being solid as far as the grammar." I told her with a smile. Phil being as old as he was had some uses, one of them was he had a pretty good handle on the English language and he made an excellent proof reader. There were no grammatical errors in my papers, he had torn it apart the first time I had sent it to him - and the second time as well. The third time around I threatened to bodily harm if he found anymore errors. He sent it back to me without any of the glaring red font of the previous drafts, but I was pretty sure he changed some things.

"Must be nice," Jenny commented. I had to agree with her, Phil was very nice, but I think he was more determined than I was for me to succeed in school. His family valued education and knowledge, so they were very supportive of my college pursuits.

Getting through the history test was fairly easy, I finished it early even after double checking my answers. I watched Jenny pulling on her hair in frustration as I left, I guess she did not think it that easy.

I got to my English class a little too early but I did not mind, it gave me the opportunity to look over my biology notes. I was taking Biology for my necessary science credit, Phil had mocked me when he figured out that I was taking the non-majors version. It was still kicking my ass, my only reason for passing was the fact that Phila was a biology professor and willing to tutor me. I had fought too hard and been through too much to get to college, I was not going to let something as minor as pride get in my way. I had practically begged Phila to help me.

"You don't have to beg you know, just ask. I wish my students would actually ask for help instead of coming to me after they had failed the test whining for me to give a bonus assignment." That was another reason I spent so much time at her apartment, I needed her to help me pass biology.

So I was sitting in English looking over my flashcards when I felt someone sit down next to me. I knew who it was without looking up, the smell gave away the identity of the boy who occupied the chair next to me. I don't know what deodorant Peter used but I did not like it, I really missed Phil's citrus and sage smell.

"Hey what are you doing?" He asked me while he was getting settled.

"Studying?" I told him without looking up, it should have been pretty obvious. My lack of sleep made me a lot less patient than usual.

"How is your paper going?" He continued, I guess the fact that I did not make eye contact with him was not a big enough clue that I did not want to talk right now.

"Considering it is due today, I would hope my paper is done." The stress over tests and lack of sleep might have made me a little more sarcastic today. Not that I was all sugar and spice most of the time. This is who I was, you could take it or leave it.

"Yeah I guess." He said awkwardly, I looked up to see his face turned beet red. I was starting to suspect the kid had a crush on me. Time to nip that in the bud, not that he was not nice and all. I was just not ready to date, been there done that, have the mental scars to last a lifetime. Next time I went into a relationship I would do it with my eyes open, knowing full well all the faults and flaws of my partner. Phil had laughed at me when I had told him this, he did not think you could truly figure out a person until you live with them for a couple of centuries. Some people did not have the luxury of centuries.

Peter seemed like a nice guy, he had pale blonde hair with matching light blue eyes. He fit in very nicely in Seattle with his pale skin, I would imagine if there was any sun it would burn his fair skin to a crisp. Fortunately for me the teacher entered the classroom giving me an excuse to concentrate on putting away my biology papers and getting ready for class instead of continuing the awkward conversation with Peter.

Maybe it was because I was a few years older than everyone else in my classes, they were all freshman straight from high school, maybe it was because life had knocked me around and I had survived, but I could not relate to these kids. Even with Jenny, most of the time I felt decades older than her. It helped that mother had given me a great deal more freedom than her parents had, also being a werewolf had given me the confidence to do more risky things. There is no way Jenny would ever hop on the back of a stranger's motorcycle, if I was more cautious I might have missed out on Phil. In retrospect Phil could have pretty much done anything to me, so that might not have been the wisest decision on my part. Taking all that into account brought along the conclusion while I could 'hang out' with Jenny we were world apart. Even ignoring the fact that I was a wolf it was hard for me to find any similarities between myself and these freshman, they did not know what it was like to fight for your life.

The worst thing that had happened to Jenny was that Mary Joe, her nemesis from high school, had worn the same dress to prom. Mary Joe's crime was even more heinous because she had the audacity to look better in the dress than Jenny. Apparently this was a big deal, nearly a year later Jenny was still complaining about it.

It was in the middle of the professor's rant about Dante and his need to force the audience to feel sympathy for Lucifer that I heard my phone buzz. Part of being a member of the family was that you got this neat little cell phone, well it looked like a cell phone but I was pretty sure it was more than just a plain old phone. I considered reaching into my bag to see who would call me at this time, mostly it was my brother or Phil who called me, but my brother should be in school and Phil was probably doing a boob job. Yes I knew Phil did things other than breast augmentation but the boob job joke never got old.

I looked up at Dr Wilson, she was heavily into her explanation with arms waving and bracelets tinkling. She was hippie all the way, and was completely anti-technology. Earlier in the semester someone had made the mistake of not putting their phone on vibrate. Dr. Wilson had not only stopped in the middle of her lecture, she had actually taken the phone away and answered. Remembering that incident, I decided against pulling out my phone to see who was calling. If it was that important they could leave a message, though knowing Phil he could probably manage to charm my professor even without flashing his dimples.

Less than a minute later I heard the sound that indicated I had new voice mail, and I started to get concerned. I spent that last twenty minutes of class counting down to the end. This of course had to be the day when Dr. Wilson did not realize what time it was and went over her allotted time.

I threw my stuff together and was one of the first ones out of the classroom, wolf speed was convenient at times. The caller ID had my mother's business number, I listened to the message my mother had left. It did not alleviate any of my worries, my mother wanted to know if I knew where Seth was.

"Leah oh thank god," my mother told me as soon as she answered the phone, she sounded very relieved that I called her back. "Is Seth with you?"

"Mom it is the middle of the morning on a school day, have you tried the school?" I was getting a little frustrated with her, she had called me in the middle of the class and freaked me out with her message because she forgot it was a weekday?

"Leah, school is out for spring break. I have not seen Seth since Sunday when he was supposed to go over and spend the night at Jake's house." She had started to feel uneasy last night but had not been able to get a hold of Jake until this morning, Seth had not spent the night with Jake on Sunday. Jake had assumed he had gone home instead.

"Seth usually does not do this sort of stuff, I was wondering if he went to see you." My mother asked me in a hopeful tone.

"Sorry mom, I have not talked to Seth in over a week." I hung up on her quickly after making promises to call around. I went outside and found an empty picnic table, it was pretty chilly outside so I was guaranteed some privacy. I only had a few hours left before I had to get ready for work, I had been planning on using this time to study for my biology exam tomorrow.

"Darn you Seth, you had better be dead in a ditch or I will kill you myself." I muttered under my breath, getting more worried the longer I thought about my usually considerate little brother.

I quickly called Jake to see if he knew anything, last time he saw Seth was at the bonfire on Sunday night down by the beach. My brother was supposed to go home with Jake but Seth had not shown up at Jake's house. Jake had assumed he had gone and done something with his girlfriend Jill since she had snuck out to attend the party.

I spent the next half an hour tracking down Quil and Embry, they told me the same story, last time they had seen Seth was at the bonfire. Quil offered to phase to wolf form to see if he could locate Seth that way, but unfortunately he was unsuccessful.

_I hope he appreciates how much I love him because I am about to call the Cullens_. Esme was the only one on Earth, she was quickly building a house for them on the outskirts of Seattle, the rest of the Cullens were staying with various family members on the island. She had not heard from Seth but offered up her entire family if a search was needed.

"Thank you but he went missing on the Rez and I do not think Sam would appreciate you running around there." I politely told her. Honestly Esme was not so bad, if you could ignore the smell the vampires were all right. They would never be my BFF but neither were they demons from the pits of hell that had come to Earth with the singular purpose of ruining my life. It is kind of pathetic that I really used to think that. I was swiftly running out of options.

Phil was in LA at this all week long and would only come back on the weekend, I did not think he would be very helpful when he was so far away. My other reason for calling him last was that I did not want to seem too dependent on him. I was a big girl, I could solve my own problems. Unfortunately my brother was involved and I knew too much about of the things that went bump in the night. I finally broke down and called Phil to see if he had heard from my brother. All I could get was his voice mail. "Now what Leah?" I asked myself after leaving a quick message. I had run out of options, barring getting in the car and going back to the Rez to search for him myself there was nothing left for me to do. Jake and the boys were already running around the Rez, it was good to have a pack to help you out.

Then I remembered that Phila should be on campus about this time, I quickly headed over to the science building. "A ravenous pack of vampires had better have taken you out Seth or else."

It started to rain a little harder, my hair was completely soaked even with the hat on. Good thing I was a wolf or I would be running the risk of catching pneumonia. People were giving me funny looks as they huddled under their coats while rushing towards their destinations. I might not need a coat for warmth but I might need it so that I don't make people suspicious, something about being outside in freezing March rain in nothing more than a tshirt and jeans made people take a second look. In the future I should just keep a sweater or jacket in my book bag just to fit in a little better.

Someone generously held the door open for me as I entered the science building. I assumed Phila's offices would be somewhere in here.

"I thought I was hard core, but at least I know to wear a raincoat." I heard a voice commenting beside me. I looked over to see a guy wearing shorts and a t-shirt underneath a light raincoat. The boy had balls, it was pretty cold outside in this March weather, especially if you were not a wolf.

"Where I come from it rains more than here." I told him with a smile.

"Yeah where I come from this is summer weather but I still wear a raincoat." He replied while he shook the rain off the jacket he had just removed.

I started heading for the stairs before realizing I had no idea where Phila's office was. I paused at the bottom of the one of the stairwells trying to determine what was the best way to locate her. We had never said it out loud but it was better for everyone involved if I did not interact much with Phila at the university. She was a junior level faculty and I was a student, technically I think it would have not looked good for either of us to hang out socially.

"Hey you ok?" The guy in the shorts asked coming up behind me.

"Yeah do you know where," it took me a moment to remember her last name, "Dr. Smith's office is?"

"Sure, I know exactly where it is but that information would not be very helpful right now." He was looking at me with a great deal of concern, I must really look like a drowned rat.

"Why not?" I asked belligerently. Punk kid, I had possible vampire attack to worry about and he was being cute. Ok so I might have started the joking around but still, I needed to find Phila.

"Because she is teaching a lab right now." He clarified.

"You know her schedule?" That was kind of creepy, what kind of a person memorizes schedules?

"She is my advisor, and I work in her lab, so yeah I may know that on Wednesday afternoons she teaches a lab." He told me while folding up his coat and putting it away in his bag.

I pondered for a moment about whether or not to interrupt her class, but I quickly decided it was worth the risk. Seth did not normally do this, I had to make sure he was all right and therefore I would pursue this avenue until it came up dry like all the others. "I take it you know where this lab is?" I asked hopefully, stalker boy in the shorts so far had been well versed in her schedule.

He led the way quickly up the stairs, but not before giving me a searching look. "So are you a student here?"

"Yup just started this semester" People often thought I was one of the more senior students, especially since the wolf genes made me look older. It did not help that I did not put as much effort into my looks as the other freshman girls. I had noticed that the junior and senior girls were not as put together as the freshman. Trying to distract myself from images of Seth dead in a ditch or worse yet being pulled apart in some laboratory, I questioned the man next to me. "So where do you come from that you consider March Summer weather?"

"Alaska, where are you from that it rains more than in Seattle." He threw my question back at me, I had to admit the boy was quick.

"Just a little place southwest of here," I knew we were closer to the biology wing, someone was dissecting something, I could tell by the smell.

"So why do you need to talk to Dr. Smith?" He asked, curiosity was thick in his voice.

"I have to ask her a quick question." I answered vaguely, some of Phil's bad habits had started to rub off on me.

"I have not seen you around here, are you new to the department?" The helpful boy continued his interrogation.

"Me in this department? As in a biology major? Not in this lifetime. The only reason I am taking bio as my science credit is a dare." Damn Phil the jerk, he knew I could not resist a dare. It was probably why he had done it.

"So you don't like biology?" His was absolutely shocked for a moment before his expression changed looking insulted. Just because I did not like the subject did not mean anything. I did not get all bent out of shape just because someone said they did not like history. But maybe once I got more into it I would take it more personally. This guy did not look like a freshman, in fact he looked like he should be fairly close to graduating.

"Nope not really, I would probably be flunking my biology course if it was not for some friends tutoring me." I did not specify who had helped me, Phil had been a bad influence I was learning to lie while telling the complete truth.

"Who is your teacher?" He asked as we rounded another corner on the stairs.

"Professor Price." I made a face while naming the one in charge of torturing me.

"Yeah he kind of sucks as a teacher but so long as you memorize anything he writes on the board you should be able to pass." He told me with a knowing nod.

"I wish it was that simple but I got grandpa quizzing me on the weekends making sure I know everything?" Phil had been shocked the first time he had questioned me about what I was learning in class. Ever since then I got a phone call once a week where I had to explain what we were doing in class.

"Your grandfather quizzes you?" He asked sounding shocked.

I laughed, I could not help myself. I had gotten into the habit of calling Phil grandpa, for some reason I had not considered that other people would think I was actually talking about my grandfather. If I was going to be honest with myself part of the reason for calling him grandpa was to keep my mental distance. Otherwise I might risk trying to jump his very sexy bones which would ruin our very cool friendship and possibly cut me off from a yummy food source. So for now I settled for enjoying the eye candy that was Phil and did not try to go for a taste. "He is not really my grandpa, he just acts like one at times."

"Yeah I know what you mean, I thought I had left my mother behind in Alaska but apparently she just passed me off to Dr. Smith. I get the 'Tell me Mr. Harper how have you improved yourself today?' question from her." He made a face, I kind of pitied him. You would have to prepare for being questioned by her, there is no way you could BS your way with Phila. She really knew her stuff, but then she had been studying biology for millennia.

Ryan, was his name, he finally remembered to introduce himself. Ryan Harper from Alaska, it was nice to know his name if only so that I would stop thinking of him as 'shorts boy'. He led me all the way to the door of the lab where Phila was teaching, I could not hear her lecturing, hopefully they had moved onto the portion of the lab where you actually had to do stuff. This was good for me, I did not want to interrupt her lecture.

Phila was helping someone dig through the corpse of some small animal I could no longer identify, but she looked up immediately after I appeared at the door.

"Leah what is wrong? Are you hurt?" She walked towards me with a concerned look; hunting her down in the middle of her class was not the norm for me, I could see why she would think something was wrong. She looked perfect as usual, with her charcoal grey slacks and baby blue sweater set. Only the frown on her face marring her flawless appearance.

"It's Seth, my mom called, she has not seen him in almost three days. This is a long shot, but would you happen to know where he is?" Saying it out loud made it more pathetic sounding.

Phila's expression changed, I could almost see the cogs turning in her head. Considering what I knew of Phila, those cogs were turning very quickly. "Mr. Harper would you be so kind as to hop down to the Science Department office and get something warm to drink for Miss Clearwater."

I had forgotten about Ryan's presence, he had remained with me in the hallway where Phila had joined us. When I looked up at him it was to notice that he was intently listening to our conversation.

"Mr. Harper?" Phila repeated herself, her tone severe and authoritative.

"Tell me everything you know." Phila said as soon as Ryan turned the corner, she had used a quiet tone, humans would not be able to overhear this conversation.

I quickly went through my phone call with my mother followed by all the subsequent phone calls.

Phila thought for a moment before she asked for my phone. "First of all let me say that no I do not think you are overreacting, this is out of character for Seth. He is usually a responsible and thoughtful young man. So for him to go off without telling anyone is of concern. I have to get back to class but what I need you to do is call Kendrick. Here, I found his phone number," she handed me back the phone. "I need you to tell him everything you just told me."

She turned around and started heading back to class. "By the way, if you wish you can use your native language with him, Kendrick is a linguist and pretty much speaks them all."

I was hesitant to call Kendrick, I did not really know the man. All I knew about him was that he had been the one to watch over my tribe before Phil and Phila had come. That and I had seen him once when we had first gone to the island, he was the one with the insane number of tattoos. I paused for a moment considering my options, did I really want to involve the family? I had exhausted all other avenues, plus I had my own responsibilities here and I could not just drop everything and go back to the Rez. Since I was no longer working for my mother skipping out on work was not an option, my current employers would not understand me just not showing up for work. On top of all that the family had far more resources at their disposal, they had more eyes than my small pack not to mention more money.

"Good evening." A low voice greeted me pleasantly right after the first ring.

"Hello I would like to speak to Kendrick please." I did not really recognize the voice, but it had been over two months since I had met him that one time.

"Oh hello Leah, this is Kendrick. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?" He said curiously.

So I explained again, Kendrick lost some of his cheerfulness. But he did reassure me that they would look into it. When he said 'they' I was going to assume him and his partner, I could not recall the name - it was something foreign sounding.

"I will call you when I find something concrete, unless you prefer a text message?" Kendrick was being very kind considering I was practically a stranger.

I agreed to the text message, he did not know how long this would take, and I had to be at work in less than two hours. Ryan had come back carrying some hot tea in a styrofoam cup, I had thanked him and got back to my conversation with Kendrick. I was glad that Ryan had not stuck around, I did not want to explain to him why I went to Phila when someone was missing. Ryan seemed like the type of guy that would want an explanation.

I quickly ran back to the dorm and changed into some dry slacks and a nice shirt, this time I remembered the coat. I had to go to work soon, but first I would stop at the library to get some studying done. The biology exam was tomorrow and I would not have much time to study tonight, since I was helping close at the restaurant tonight.

I was trying to earn some extra cash and had taken any and every possible time slot my boss would give me. I wanted to get enough saved up so that by the end of the semester I could get my own place. The dorms were great in terms of price, but I could not sleep. The wolf hearing made it so that I heard everything, and I swear someone was always awake and talking in that building. There was nothing more annoying than the squeaky sound of teenage girls gossiping.

It did not take me long to dash across campus to find a quiet spot in the library, well as quiet as it could get with wolf hearing. I pulled out my noise canceling headphones, a gift from Phil after I had complained about the noise level. I would normally have not accepted the present, he had given me far too many gifts already, but these headphones were made with alien technology so they actually were really good at blocking out noise. It was the same stuff they used to disguise their heartbeats when they met with the Volutri as "Zombies".

I quickly read through my notes realizing that I did not need to study as much as I had anticipated, Phil constantly quizzing me whenever he talked to me over the weekends had forced me to learn the information. "Thanks, grandpa." I muttered under my breath.

My phone moved a little across the table in front of me, I quickly grabbed it up and tried to answer, but it was just my half an hour warning that I had to get to work.

I packed up my things, grabbed my coat and headed to my car. I had found employment not far from campus, at a small family owned seafood restaurant called Fisherman's Pier. The joke, at least I thought it was funny, was that it was nowhere near the water.

"Good afternoon Mr Peters." I said coming in the back door. The boss and owner, Thomas Peters was a man in his early sixties if I had to guess, with a full head of mostly grey hair. His wife, Mille Peters was also in her early sixties, she unfortunately did not have a full head of hair. It would seem that women could go bald as well, though it was not the same as men, she just had really thin hair at the top of her head.

"Oh hello Leah, you are a little early today." He said from his small office beside the kitchen.

"I am not really on the clock yet, I still need to make a phone call." I had recalled that I had completely forgotten about Jake. I stepped out into the alley to talk to Jake. He was a little annoyed at first when I told him I was involving the family, but he had to admit he had not found any evidence of where Seth might be. We could use the help.

"I can see why you did it, but it does not mean I like it." Jake told me. "Call me if you hear anything from them." He may have wanted to do things for himself but was mature enough to realize sometimes you had to ask for help. He had grown so much in the past year, we all had.

Standing next to the dumpster was not one of the most pleasant things to do, so I quickly said my goodbyes and headed inside.

The time at work passed swiftly, we were surprisingly busy for a Wednesday night. I did not have that much time to worry about Seth while taking care of my assigned tables. I was not complaining about the hard work, more customers meant more tips and I desperately needed the cash if I was going to leave the dorms behind.

I had been so busy that I forgot about Seth until I finally sat in my car. "You really need to get some sleep Leah." But that was not going to happen for another few months.

_Seth is at home, he was fine, just wanted to go off for a little while to think._ That was the text message waiting for me from Kendrick. I laughed with a combination of relief and humor. I was going to take a wild guess that Kendrick was one of the psychics of the family. He told me everything without telling me anything at all.

I also had a message from my mother saying Seth had come home, she had left the message at 8:30 at night. It was half past ten according to my dashboard clock, too late to call her back. I would wake up early tomorrow and call her before she went of to work.

The biology test went well or at least I thought so, I reminded myself to thank Phila for helping me study. I would not thank Phil, it would give him an excuse to be even more bossy. Of course I had not woken up early enough to catch my mother. I had barely enough time to grab my book bag and a granola bar for breakfast as it was.

After my test I called my brother on his cell phone, he had not picked up when I tried calling him on it yesterday but I got a hold of him today. The family had given him a phone as well, we had told my mother it was a free phone that I got as a package deal when I bought mine. She agreed to let Seth keep it, since it was free and he was very responsible for his age.

"Hi Leah," I heard him say in a subdued tone. "By the way thanks for ratting me out."

"Do you have any idea how worried I was?" I shrieked into the phone.

"Yeah I kind of figured that out when looked up to see this huge guy covered with tattoos glaring at me. By the way Kendrick is one scary looking man, especially when he is angry."

"Good, I hope he knocked you around a bit too." I was not going to apologize for my actions.

"Not exactly but when I got home I found a note from his parter with a full lecture on family obligations and responsibilities, I would almost have preferred an ass kicking. Next mom came home and I swear gave me the exact same lecture almost word for word." He mumbled with a great deal of contrition.

"Well you left me with few options when mom called to tell me you were missing. Do not blame me for working with what I have." I was not sorry, Kendrick had done what I asked.

"Yeah well sorry if I caused you problems in school." Seth apologized his voice filled with contrition.

"So what exactly were you thinking over?" I asked, he had better have a good reason.

Unfortunately he did, one that immediately garnered my sympathies. While he had been a complete gentleman with his girlfriend, she had not returned the courtesy. He found her making out with another guy at the bonfire, that is what prompted his flight.

"I guess I can't even begin to imagine what you went through when Sam broke up with you." There was my little brother thinking of someone else when he got broken up with. I allowed myself one smile before a scowl took over. Who did this little slut think she was? No one messed with my little brother.

I asked if he needed anything, like me coming home but he told me it was all right. I needed to call Kendrick to both thank him and ask how my brother really felt. But first there was something else I needed to do, the anger at that little bitch resurfaced. My brother might be kind enough to forgive her for cheating on him but I was not that kind. How dare she do that to Seth? She was not going to get away with this, my hands shook slightly as I dialed the number.

"Hey Phil I need help getting rid of a body." I growled without preamble.

"All right. Have you killed her yet?" There was my Phil, it was like he could read my mind even though he was in another state.

"You know you are supposed to be talking me out of it. Not encouraging me to commit murder." I felt a smile starting to form on my face.

"Oh right...no please don't, think of the children." He said in a deadpan tone.

"What children?" Wondering how the conversation had altered so quickly.

"I don't know they always tell you to think of the children. But seriously if you are thinking of taking out your brother's ex, don't bother. Someone already beat you to the chase."

Oh crap, knowing this family bullet to the brain is not exactly beyond them. I might talk big but I don't think I really wanted that girl's blood on my hands. "Ummm what happened?" I asked reluctantly.

"Josefine went around finding seedy bars and wrote 'Call Jill for a good time', followed by her home phone number. So Jill should be getting a few calls from drunks soon." He told me with a laugh. Josefine, that was the name of Kendrick's partner.

I had no choice but to laugh along with him, I can imagine how well that would go for Jill considering her parents were so conservative. "Wait a minute. Her dad is a cop on the Rez, what happens if he finds out it was a prank?"

"Nothing, Josefine did it far enough away that there is no way that anyone in your family could possibly be implicated." Phil's family knew what they were doing and by the looks of things we were now fully under the umbrella of their protection - apparently this even covered teenage drama.

I grumbled under my breath, this Josefine had beat me to the lecture and the revenge. There was nothing left for me to do, I was feeling a little bit out of the loop -protecting Seth was my job, not this other woman.

"Are we still on for brunch Saturday morning?" Phil asked changing the subject.

"You make promises of food and I will follow you pretty much anywhere." I told him honestly.

"You are such a food floozie," his voice was filled with laughter.

"Only for your cooking, don't worry I am completely faithful. Speaking of food I have to go eat." I hung up on him quickly and ran to one of the cafeterias on campus before heading to my biology lab.

A/N: What do you guys think of Leah's experience with college life? So I know you all want some loving so I promise you the next chapter will involve a kiss as well as a sex toy. (Am I evil or what?) All right don't pull out the pitchforks, I will post the next one tomorrow.

Twilighter: I promise you there will be some kissing in the next chapter...with tongue. So hold your little lemon crazy horses.

ABarbieStory: Yeah it is fun to put in those little clues that only make sense later, there are others in there. As well as a huge clue that Leah totally missed. Have I made you crazy yet?

Keither Serenity: Pleading the fifths is perfectly fair, as for alien boy Stef and Embry I will go into that later. Glad you like that Leah is making herself at home at Phil's place, I am going to guess that Phil is not bothered by it either. As for the romance...well I am sure you saw the author's note. :D

Connect2tjb: Yeah scifi is fun to read, it also helps that I am a total science nerd, glad it makes sense for you. I worry at times, but that is just my nature. Oh well. I am off to finish off the next chapter.


	23. Surprises

22 - Surprise

After a week of not being able to get any sleep at the dorm I finally I broke down and spent the night at Phila's place. On Friday night I headed straight to her apartment after I got off of work, Phil promised to meed me there in the morning. I did not feel too bad about crashing at Phila's place since I had been given an open invitation - plus it was much more quiet.

Catching up on a week's worth of sleep meant that I woke up later than usual, it was not a pleasant awakening because I was not smelling breakfast. Maybe Phil was not here yet, but no, I could hear him talking to Phila in his deep voice. "It should not take too long if we leave early tomorrow. A couple of days tops."

"I will remember to pack the big guns this time." Phila answered him, I could hear the reluctance in her voice.

"At least it is winter there, so it won't be blisteringly hot." Phil told her in a cajoling tone. Sounded like phil was planning another trip, he had never really clarified where he went when he disappeared for days at a time last Fall - somehow I doubted that Phila would need to take guns when they went to LA. While there might be some parts of Los Angeles that required you to be packing heat so to speak I did not think that was where Phil and his partner travelled. Jasper had mentioned trips overseas that were not exactly tourist locations, that might be where Phil was going now.

He must have heard my stomping down the hall because all talk ceased until I walked into Phila's kitchen.

"Morning Princess," he said giving me the full dimpled smile. They were sitting around her small table drinking what smelled like tea. "Are you ready to go?"

Since I was still wearing my pajamas, I did not bother to answer his question. "Where is my promised food?" I complained not even attempting to be polite, Phil should know by now that I was not a morning person.

"If you want your breakfast you will have to get dressed and come with me to the island," he told me with a friendly smile.

Grumbling under my breath about broken promises I went back to the spare bedroom to put on some clothes, Phila let me keep a few spare clothes in the closet so I grabbed a couple of those before heading to the shower. If I was going to have to get dressed I might as well get cleaned up.

The jump to the island was not as disconcerting as the first time I had done it. The snow was still thick on the ground, but it looked like they had not added anymore since last time I had been here.

The ancient forest was still deeply frozen solid, there were no signs of the trees coming back to life anytime soon. I had been so distracted by the towering trees around us that it took me a while to notice that Phil was going the wrong way. I sighed and contemplated telling him he had managed to get lost, again. I was mentally debating whether it would be faster to tell him outright that he was lost, or if I should be more subtle in my attempts to redirect him. The problem was that I had not been paying attention and was a little bit lost as well; I wasted a few minutes trying to figure out the fastest way to my breakfast.

"Here we are," Phil told me as we entered a large clearing. Ahead of us was what they called the main house. It really was a gigantic four story compound that had started out much smaller but over the millennia had gone through several additions. This is where they kept their clinic, some facilities to do pretty hard core experiments, as well as garages full of vehicles in various states of assembly. They might not drive the vehicles on the island but sometimes they would bring them back here to fix them up or add various upgrades.

I had been inside the garage portion of the building but never beyond that, Jake spent a lot of time here and was trying to learn how to put some of the more exotic cars together. I followed Phil wondering what was so important that we were putting it before food?

"Just one stop and I promise all your food wishes will be fulfilled." Phil told me as we went down a hall I had not seen before. This part of the house reminded me of those old British mansions you see on TV, I kept expect a butler to pop our of the woodwork and tell us to be on our way. There were strange and ancient looking tapestries hanging on the walls as well as various urns sitting on tables that could have been considered works of art just by themselves. Phil led me to a set of large double doors that had been intricately carved. "Ladies first," he told me with a small bow as he pulled the door open for me.

I rolled my eyes before entering the somewhat dark room. The lights immediately turned on with a loud, "SURPRISE!"

There was a big banner across the room that said Happy Birthday Princess. "You jerk," I mumbled underneath my breath while trying to not look as embarrassed as I felt. "You got it wrong, it is not my birthday today."

Phil quickly corrected me, "actually if you take into account the fact that you spent two weeks here you are indeed was twenty years old today." He was such a tricky man.

"Happy birthday, Leah," my brother told me after giving me a quick hug.

My entire pack was in on the surprise, all the Cullens except Rosalie had come as well. There were also several members of the family who I had met before, including Aunt Jazz who turned out to be Kendrick's mother. She was a very tall woman, she looked like she could kick ass but was actually a big sweetheart. Jake had taken a liking to her, or more accurately he had fallen in love with her garage full of bikes and cars. Aunt Jazz was by education a mechanical engineer and according to Jake actually was a professor of engineering in some college overseas. Her impressive credentials were not what made her so attractive, not that would have been the fact that her hobby was racing motorcycles. Phil had admitted to me that it had been his Aunt Jazz that taught him how to ride a bike - that had certainly explained a great deal about his driving style.

Fortunately for Phil's well being my embarrassed mood disappeared as soon as I saw the table loaded with insane amounts of food. The breakfast he had promised me turned out to be more of a brunch filled with enough food to feed a small army. From the way the guys were eyeing the food I knew my pack was looking forward to trying to consume everything in sight. It would be a challenge, someone had prepared for wolf guests and had gone overboard in the proportions.

"Everyone it is time to open presents," Alice said with a great deal too much enthusiasm after everyone who actually ate food had several goes at the table. She was more excited about this than I was.

By opening presents she did not mean actually taking the wrapping paper off of anything, most of my gifts were too big to wrap. My birthday surprise had been organized to the point where even my gifts were coordinated. Someone had decided that my rooms at Phil's house were too empty and so most of my presents were "room warming stuff". I am not talking some candles and a couple of potted plants. My gifts included large pieces of furniture including bookshelves, a new couch and matching side tables, as well as a desk with a comfy chair to match. Alice and Aunt Katie had gifted me a new wardrobe that had already been installed in the room; they would probably pass out if they saw what I wore to school. At least Aunt Katie would, since she was actually capable of fainting.

After the presents came the cake, a large creation made mostly of cream and cherries. Like the banner above me, the cake too said Happy Birthday Princess, I was never going to escape that nickname now. Someone blinded me with the flash from a camera while I blew out all twenty candles. After that little bit of time in the limelight I was allowed to disappear again. I was not expected to be the hostess of the occasion, everyone seemed to fend for themselves. I managed to corner my brother to ask how he was doing. We had not spoken since he had called to tell me he was back home.

"Don't worry about it Leah, I am fine now. This was just a lesson, I will wait to imprint before I start dating again." He told me with a smile. "It was probably partially my fault, I was not really committed to being her boyfriend. It is hard to do so when I could find my mate at any point and have to break up with Jill." Sometimes I thought Seth was far older than he looked.

I was on my way back to the cake, more than half of the cake remained and it would be a crime to let that tasty treat go to waste. I had even picked out the corned piece with the extra creamy icing when my path to the dessert was blocked; it was fortunate that I had already eaten because this person was risking her life standing between me and my food. She was a small, plain little thing, with brown hair and these strange golden colored eyes that were too big for her face. She looked up at me, her large eyes making what should have been an ordinary face become far more striking. She was dressed in a basic pair of dark blue jeans combined with a cable knit sweater.

"Happy Birthday Leah," she said in a quiet voice. She looked so diminutive I felt guilty just considering pushing her out of my way.

"Thank you, um..." I was trying to fish around for her name, but I could not recall ever meeting her before. I looked around and saw Phil with a concerned frown on his face trying to make his way towards me. He was well aware of how much I loved food, and wanted to make sure that the petite woman in front of me would remain unhurt.

The small woman noticed what Phil was doing as well, she made a face at him and gave a small shake of her head. It surprised me when Phil acquiesced to her order with merely a deferential bow in her direction. Maybe Phil's intent had been to protect me from her, and not vice versa like I originally thought.

"I apologize, we have not been properly introduced. My name is Bee, it is a pleasure to meet you." She had a very slight accent that would have not been obvious had I not concentrated so hard on her words. Phil backing down respectfully just because she shook her head raised red flags in my mind. This little woman was far more important than her appearance would indicate.

"It is very nice to meet you too, Bee." I replied as politely as possible.

"I was going to get you a Bob, but my daughter suggested that you would not need it very much longer." She told me as she bend down to pick up a large wrapped box I had not noticed earlier.

I put my plate down with a sigh, knowing my second piece of cake would have to wait. The box was large, and wrapped in this two toned silver paper that was so pretty I was reluctant to tear through it.

"Well go ahead, rip it open," Bee told me as she watched me hesitate.

Bee's present for me was a very large and fluffy quilt, the colors were green and cream. Inside each panel there was a flower, green material had been used for it's leaves but the flowers themselves looked to be stitched by hand.

"White heather and clover for luck, people always underestimate the power of luck," Bee told me as I stared at the quilt. When she pointed it out, I noticed that each intersection of the green fabric had little four leaf clovers. This had taken some serious work, I did not know if I should accept something this intricate.

She smiled at me and huge dimples appeared on in each cheek, that was when I finally realized she might be related to Phil. "Do you like it?" she asked quietly.

"Oh yes of course, thank you." I had been speechless while contemplating how much work had actually gone into making this quilt for me. I was beginning to wonder who she was.

"Now you can go back to your cake," she gave me a wink, making me believe that she had known all the dangers involved in getting in between me and food. After carefully placing my quilt back in the box, I picked up my discarded plate before heading back to my birthday cake.

Phil joined me as I cut an extra large piece. "How are you?" He sounded a little nervous.

"Fine, by the way who the heck was that?" I asked him in a low whisper.

"That was Berenike, my grandmother." He told me with an apologetic smile, "she can be a little rough on people at times."

"Your grandmother?" I asked amazed, looking over at the small woman who was currently speaking with Esme. She sure as heck did not look like anyone's grandmother. "Wait a minute was she not one of the people who verbally kicked the Volturi in the nuts?" I could not reconcile that falling apart old skeleton, with this pink cheeked little woman.

"She has a really good glamour for those special occasions," Phil explained as he followed me back to a table.

"I still don't fully understand why you guys do it?" What was the point of getting all dressed up like corpses.

"Several reasons, the main one is to stay hidden. If the Volturi or any other vampire knew what we actually looked like it would make living amongst the humans a lot more difficult. When you are constantly watching your back against vampire attacks it makes fitting in a little harder."

"So this way you get to come out and scare the crap out of the Leech Princes and then disappear back into the mist - they don't know where you go, or when you could come back," this family was sort of the vampire boogyman, but I still did not understand why they went to the lengths which they did? "Why include the zombies? Why not just have Berenike show up and throw around a few fireballs - which I assume you all can."

"The Volturi tend to covet everything, if they knew that Bee is young and can throw fireballs and jump and keep people out of their minds they might get a little..." Phil searched for the right word.

"Jealous?" I asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question. The Volturi were envious of anyone that they saw with power.

"More like willing to accumulate, I am sure they were trying to figure out if they could collect the newest member of the guardians." Phil told me with a shrug, the Volturi's need to hoard things with power was not a secret.

"You mean clumsy girl? Melissa." Now that Phil mentioned it I could recall how Aro had looked at her, trying to asses her potential.

"I hope you know she is nothing like that," Phil explained with a smile. "Now tell me birthday girl, how do you like your party?"

Phil's dimples reminded me of Bee's own large craters, "I am sure it is the age difference - if you are two thousand years old I don't want to know how old your grandmother is - but what the heck is this Bob she was talking about getting for me?" I was curious as to what it actually was.

"A Bob?" Phil asked his face suddenly blank of all emotions, "a nickname for Robbert?"

"No, your grandmother was considering giving me a Bob, but then she decided I would not need one. So what the hell is a Bob?" I asked a Phil who suddenly could not meet my eye.

"Well, Bob is an acronym for battery operated boyfriend," Phil's voice came out a little strangled sounding, but he had turned away from me so I could not see his expression.

"What is a battery operated..." that was when it finally dawned on me. His grandmother had considered getting me a vibrator, seriously was there not anyone out there that did not know about my lack of a sex life?

Phil glanced back at me and as soon as he saw the shocked look on my face he could not contain his laughter any more. I instantly decided that Aunt Jazz looked really lonely across the room and needed some company.

It was late afternoon when I finally made it to Phil's house. Several people were kind enough to help transport my presents back to Phil's house. Alice and Aunt Katie's gift of clothes was already in the enormous closet of my room. Despite of its carvernous size they had somehow managed to pack it full of clothes, it could take me years to go through everything - they had gone seriously overboard.

After everyone finally left it was nice to finally have some absolute peace and quiet, no more pack members, no more family telling you about the sex toys they wanted to buy for you, and no more teenage girls talking in their awful high pitched voices.

"I have one more present for you." Phil told me when he found me downstairs in the kitchen getting a drink of water.

"Don't you think I have enough presents?" I said with a laugh. They really took birthdays seriously in this family.

"It is because this is your twentieth, that is a very significant birthday in our family. We are not allowed off the island after our twentieth birthday, usually our powers 'kick in' and we are obligated to stay away from humans until we get them fully under control." He shrugged his shoulders by way of explanation, like it was not a big deal that people that I met less than a year ago were giving me presents that cost a fortune. Not that money seemed to matter much to immortals, they all seemed to amass the stuff.

"Woah you are actually volunteering something about yourself and I have not had to pull it out of you?" I pretended to be shocked, but he was not bothered by my poor acting abilities.

"This is not actually a proper present. It is more like returning something that was already yours." Cryptic Phil was back, I had been worried for a moment.

Curiosity flooded me as he put a folded piece of paper in my hand. There was something thick in the middle. I paused for a moment considering his words, what property of mine could he possibly be returning to me?

I put the small package on the counter before gently unfolding the flaps of paper to reveal my present from Phil. It took me a moment to recognize it, and then I was rendered speechless. It was my grandmother's necklace, the one I thought was destroyed - a casualty of the Volturi invasion.

"I found it in pieces just outside the cabin, it took me a while to find the parts and put it all together again." I heard the words rushing out of his mouth, almost like he was uncertain about my reaction. "I mean it is yours, is it not?"

I still could think of a million ways to tell how how much I loved the gift but for some reason my mouth refused to work. I threw my arms around his neck to give him a hug instead of using words. He put his arms around my waist as if he was about to return the embrace but then his body immediately stiffened. While the family was very physically affectionate towards each other, often kissing and hugging when they met, Phil had never behaved like that towards me.

I swiftly pulled back to look at his face, ready to apologize for I don't know what exactly. Was I being too touchy-feely? My apology was instantly forgotten as I glanced up at Phil.

His eyes were purple, he was staring at something far away - I was willing to bet he did not see the wall behind me.

I had been told there was pretty much nothing you could do when he was seeing something, he was usually totally distracted by the vision. But it was hard for me to do just stand there and do nothing. His arms were loose around my hips, frozen in the position he had place them before the vision hit him. The fact that he was not even blinking worried me, I put my hands on his either side of his cheeks and rubbed the smooth surface a little bit to try to get his attention, "Phil, can you hear me?"

Unfortunately he did not answer, he was still consumed by whatever the spirit inside was showing him.

"Leah?" He finally said after what seemed like an hour but was probably no more than a a minute. His tone was questioning, almost desperate sounding - his eyes were still the deep unseeing purple. He placed his hands on top of mine that were still resting on his cheeks. I thought he was going to pull them away but to my surprise he held them closer to his face, keeping my hands still while he rubbed his face against them.

"Phil are you all right?" I was still not used to these visions that would take a hold of him. Not that they were all that frequent, I had only seen him do this two times and in both instances Phila had been there to handle it.

"Leah?" He said again this time his voice was laced with more fear than I had ever heard.

"I am right here." I tried to reassure him as I looked into his eyes, they were searching around blindly. One of his hands moved down my body before settling on the small curve of my waist. Before I could even begin to contemplate what he was doing he pulled me flush against his hard body.

"Leah," he said in a soft voice, this time my name was a caress. To say I was surprised by the embrace was an understatement, but that was nothing compared to how I felt when his mouth came crashing down on mine a moment later. I opened my mouth, maybe to protest maybe to encourage his kiss. My brain function deteriorated as soon as his lips had touched mine. His scent was much stronger when we were this close, the smell of citrus and sage was something I would always associate with Phil.

Phil decided slightly open mouth was an invitation because his tongue suddenly pushed its was into my mouth. That was the point where all brain function shut down and my body decided it just wanted to feel. In the back of my mind a small voice pointed out that there was something to be said for experience, Sam had never kissed me like this. Though this was not a kiss, it was more of a claiming; his mouth moved roughly over mine, his tongue determined to explore every inch of the inside of my mouth. As I pushed my tongue against his I tasted cherries, cream and the essence of Phil.

He used his hand on my lower back to pull me even closer to him, while his other hand was entangled in my hair as he tilted my head so that our mouths could fit together better. As he wrapped his body around me I noticed the temperature difference between us, Phil's normally cooler skin was now hot against mine and I could not help but soak in some of his warmth. I had gone from worried to fully aroused, tingles erupted across my entire body. Almost instinctively I moved my hands from his face to his shoulders, this way I could pull myself up higher to meet his kiss with an assault of my own. Phil seemed to get the right idea as his hand went my lower back down to cup my ass, while he lifted me up closer he never broke contact with my mouth. He continued his assault, there was an almost bruising quality to his kiss but I did not mind.

This was a Phil that I had never met before, all his civilized veneer was gone leaving behind this brutal primitive man whose every frenzied lick against the delicate flesh inside of my cheek was bringing me to the heights of arousal I had never reached before. I rubbed my body against his and felt parts of me clench, my mind decided to come back only to go through memories of what could be done with a willing man. From the large "impression" he was leaving against me I could tell Phil was a very willing man. My body was totally ready to oblige any and every one of those plans.

I don't know how long we would have continued or how far it would have gone had we not heard the front door open and close loudly.

Phil stiffened for a moment, well the parts that were not already really, really hard and he pulled away from me. I considered using my wolf strength to pull him back, and screw the consequences. Instead I silently cursed the person who had interrupted.

By the time I opened my eyes he was a few yards away from me, he was rubbing his closed eyes like he wanted to erase whatever he had seen.

"Sorry about that." He said with a casual voice, but it was not really effective considering how hard he was breathing. The large bulge in the front of his jeans was another indicator that his calm voice was just for show.

"I added an elastic string when I put your necklace together again, it should not break if you phase while wearing it again." He continued, like he had not just taken me to the brink and left me wanting.

"Oh I see that you gave her the necklace. He has been working furiously to try to get it back together again before your birthday." Phila said, I don't know how she did not notice the tension in the room. "What is the matter are you getting another headache?"

"No, just a bad vision," Phil said, he had stopped rubbing his eyes but he still had not opened them.

"What did you see?" Phila asked curiously. "Oh come on why do you have to be such a little bitch when it comes to sharing your visions?"

Phil opened his eyes, they were the beautiful light green again - just the way ai liked them. There was still some heat left in them from our embrace but they were mostly filled with fear. "You were dead, something killed you." He said with absolute terror written all over his face as he looked straight at me.

* * *

A/N: All right see I keep my promises. There was a kiss. I am making no promises about the next chapter being up tomorrow. I have to go shopping for a new pair of jeans, my old ones are so torn up I can no longer even pretend that the holes are deliberate. So I am off to go shopping for jeans, this activity is sure to put me in a depressed mood. Let us just say that unfortunately I do not have werewolf metabolism. Stupid cheesecake... why do you have to be so tasty? Oh and homemade cinnamon rolls, and chocolate, and these really tasty white chocolate macademia nut cookies. Oh and the trick to making really good whipped cream is to mix in cream cheese, it makes is so much yummier that way.

All right time to move away from my constant failed attempts to eat right. Did you guys like Bee, Phil's grandmother offering to get her a vibrator? And what did you guys think about the kiss? Too much? Too little?

ABarbie story: Heehee, it is fun to drive people crazy, don't worry Leah will figure it out soon enough. So did you guess who exactly will be kissing? Glad you liked the college life description, I kind of moved over some of the grosser parts I remember people doing - aka wearing a dirty shirt inside out makes it instantly clean (NOT!). I am deliberately trying to not be too descriptive of UW, since I have never actually been there. The whole part about professors hitting everyone with assignments all at the same time is actually true, and they also sit around plotting test questions to try to mess you up (I have experience with this, I used to help make up the evil questions to help separate the boys from the men.)

Twilighter: What do you mean you are leaving me? ...goes over to a corner to cry... joking, I am going to be a little more busy in the upcoming weeks so you might have to get used to less frequent updates.

Connect2tjb: I think it is funny how impatient you are, especially since you know what is coming. I have been working on trying to get my lemons more lemony what do you think?

Ms animegoddess: Glad you liked Josefine's form of revenge, I was kind of mean to Leah, giving her the normal life she wanted but making her realize that normal is not always all that it is cracked up to be. Ryan will make another appearance, or at least he will be mentioned, but it is not in a way that you will expect. Peter might be back to annoy Leah, but I don't know if he will fit in anywhere as of yet. By the way was that enough romance for you?

Keither Serenity: I am sorry that you had to go through a bad break-up, hold your little horses regarding Jill. Unfortunately we have not seen the last of her and there will be some long term consequences. I don't think I can let Leah go to an all night kegger (spelling?) I am pretty sure if anything happened to her Phil would manage to jump out of the computer and kick my ass.


	24. Dinner Conversations

23 - Dinner Conversation

Phil's pale green eyes did not leave mine as I stood there with the deer in the headlight look - not fully comprehending what he was trying to say. Was this about my death? Is that what he had seen? My body was still half aroused from the kiss he had given me less than a minute ago, it was somewhat hard to start thinking about my possible death.

"What did you see?" Phila said as she came over to where I was standing frozen next to the counter, she put a comforting arm around me - she mistook my still excited wide eyes and quick breaths for fear. "Don't worry we will figure this out, we would never let anything happen to you."

My body protested for a moment as Phila embraced me, I wanted to be comforted but not by her. He was just standing across the room from me, horror still written all over his face; he made no move to put his arms around me again.

"I don't know," Phil said rubbing his face, finally breaking eye contact. "All I see is Leah torn apart, over and over again. It was a hell of a battle, you went down fighting. I can't see anything else. Maybe trees outside of a building I could not recognize. The furniture is nondescript, I think it is raining outside."

Well nothing like someone predicting your violent death to stop all thoughts of sex. I listened intently as they discussed my potential demise. I noticed that Phila was the cool and controlled one, she took charge of the situation. She was the one who decided to call my pack and tell them about Phil's vision.

"Wait," I tried to protest. Did we really want to involve the boys, I remembered what they did to Bella when she was in danger. I foresaw myself being babysat for the rest of my life.

Phil took a deep breath, and breathed out slowly. I could hear his heart doing double speed, I had never seen his this disturbed before. The way he was acting you would have though he had foreseen his own death and not mine. "No it would be best to call them, if there is something running around that can take you out, then they are at risk as well." I glared at him for taking Phila's side of the argument - I ignored the little voice that pointed out that he was right.

My pack came barreling in the front door with a great deal of noise. "Happy birthday Leah, what you missed us already?" Embry asked loudly, we had not told them yet what the problem was.

"Shoes off and leave them by the door. Unless you will be staying late tonight to clean my floors." Phil said to them, finally behaving like his old controlled self.

We settled around Phil's dinning room table; he quickly but thoroughly went through his vision.

"What did the place look like?" Jake asked immediately, he did not wait for an answer instead he fired a half dozen more questions at Phil.

"I don't know, there was nothing that stood out in the room that could help me identify its location." Phil answered with half a growl. Jake did not like any of Phil's answers and was starting to get a little angry.

Finally Phil touched Jake's shoulder, "do you really want to know what I saw?" "You can show me what you saw? Why the hell did you not do this in the first place?" Jake was starting to really get pissed.

"Don't blame me, you were warned." We watched as Phil closed his eyes and seemed to concentrate. Jake twitched almost instantly and jumped away from Phil. The chair he had been sitting on falling over with a loud thud.

"Mother fucker," Jake went through his repertoire of curses. I was impressed, he had picked up some new ones. I wondered who had been teaching him.

"What did he show you?" Embry asked eyeing Phil suspiciously.

"He showed me his vision." Jake answered not being specific at all on the details. "All right, Leah from now on you will never be alone. We will not let anything happen to you."

I grumbled, I argued, I even pleaded. Nothing moved them from their determination to keep me safe. For a moment I wondered if Phil would show me what he saw in his vision, but I reconsidered. Jake and Phil were two of the strongest guys I knew, if they were that disturbed by this vision maybe I did not want to know. It might have made me a coward, but at least I could remain sane.

It was Seth that asked the question we did not want to answer. "Will we tell Sam?"

The pack argued in circles for a while. Quil and Seth wanted to tell Sam, Jake and I were against it, but then I had been against telling my own pack. "How are you going to tell Sam without mentioning Phil's vision? It would be kind of hard to keep the family's secret." I was pushing hard against telling the super paranoid Sam, he would try to order me back to the Rez or something. Like that was ever fucking going to happen.

I was proud of myself for stumping the group in front of me, but it did not last long - Phil came up with a solution."You might ask Alice if you can use her. Tell Sam Alice had a vision of some strange vampires coming. Leah cannot be included specifically because it is common knowledge that Alice cannot see wolves, but you can tell Sam she saw a mutilated body of a woman. That should be enough to keep him more vigilant."

"Or crap his pants," Embry added with a laugh.

"That would be an added bonus," Phil answered Embry with a cool smile. I knew why I hated Sam but why the hell did Phil seem to dislike him so much? This was not the usual apathetic way he treated most people, the slightly cool and standoffish persona. When it came to Sam it felt like Phil would have no problem giving Sam a little push if he happened to be standing next to a cliff.

"This could happen at anytime in the future, I mean it could be years. Phil's visions are not that precise. Back me up here." I looked over at Phil, hoping that for the first time today he would support me.

"That is true, but I am getting the impression of urgency here." He replied, earning another glare from me - I thought he was on my side.

"Should we stop going to school for a while and run extra patrols?" Jake was really taking this seriously, it made me almost want to ask Phil to share his vision with me.

"No need, I will call Kendrick and Josefine to warn them of a potential problem. They have been moving around those woods for years so it is not a big deal for them to watch over the place." Phila answered quietly, she had not said much during the meeting - preferring to sit back and listen. "The only question is how we are going to protect Leah? Obviously she will be moving out of the dorms and into my spare bedroom until this is resolved."

Phil interrupted before I could protest, "Phila's security system is far superior to the stupid key cards used by the dorms. She has Aurora watching over the place while the dorms have - well an open door policy."

"As an added bonus two nonhumans are better than one." Seth pointed out, even my kid brother pushing for the babysit Leah plan.

"Well I don't want to entangle you in a dangerous situation." I told Phila, trying to make her understand.

"As opposed to bringing danger to a building full of foolish young girls?" Phila gave me a dirty look before she continued. "Leah, I have not survived two thousand years because I can't take care of myself. I know you might think me a girl that prefers high heels and designer clothes but I have significant combat experience."

The planning for my future was done by everyone but me. I would return to Earth on Sunday night, and get settled in Phila's apartment. Other than a few clothes there was nothing really that I needed from my dorm; most of my textbooks were already at Phila's place.

Sleep did not come easily that night, I kept jumping from memories of Phil's kiss to his prediction of my death. Phila had been right about psychics being reluctant to tell people about their futures, it would have been almost better not to know what was hanging over my head. But I guess forewarned is forearmed.

I could not figure out why Phil had kissed me, but I noticed that he made sure to keep his distance from me the rest of the evening. For all I knew it could have been a simple reaction to seeing me dead, touch was the most basic way to make sure that something is real - maybe he needed to be certain that I was still there.

Phil had become a good friend, someone I could talk to about anything. I was afraid to try to make something else out of this relationship, I liked our friendship too much to risk it. Unfortunately no matter how I looked at it there could be nothing long term about our relationship; I had not imprinted on him and from what Phila had told me his kind did a binding thing. Even if we started something, even if I could make him love me what would happen if I imprinted on someone else? I would never do to him what Sam had done to me. And where would I be if he found his mate? I got the impression it would be a heck of a lot harder to get over Phil than it had been to get over Sam.

Sam had been a convenient place holder in my dreams,a boy who temporarily held my heart. Phil had the potential to be so much more - he would be the type of man that would leave a mark on your soul, you would never fully get over being in love with Phil.

When I finally fell asleep, my dreams were filled with Phil walking away from me and when I would chase him down all I would find were dead bodies. Needless to say I woke up afraid in the dark, sweat pouring off of me.

Feeling a little scared and unable to fall back asleep I headed downstairs to get myself a drink of milk or something along those lines. It was when I reached the kitchen that I noticed that the back door was cracked open a little, heading over to close the door I was astonished to find Phil sitting outside on a metal bench in the middle of his snow covered garden. He head was tilted back as he looked at the sky above him.

"Phil? Are you all right?" I asked in concern, what was he doing sitting out there in this cold weather. I could see his breath as he slowly breathed out.

"I am fine," his voice came out completely mellow and to my shock he lifted a hand to put a cigarette to his mouth before drawing smoke deeply into his lungs.

Phil was a complete health nut, for him to smoke was...well I could not find the words.

Phil laughed at my flabbergasted expression and unfolded the blanket wrapped around him, "want to join me?" He gave me his full dimpled smile, his normally happy mood was back after an evening of frowns.

"Just a sec," I told him while going to grab my boots, given the choice between hanging out with Phil or returning back to my nightmares - I obviously picked Phil.

Phil opened his blanket once again when I stepped outside, I snuggled close to him as he folded the warm blanket around me yet again. He place his right hand over my shoulder as I snuggled into his chest, the bad dreams faded into the back of my mind as I sat there quietly next to Phil. It was quiet for a few minutes, nothing breaking the silence of the night. There was no moon tonight but the stars shone bright enough to make the snow glow around us, everything looked pristine and perfect - I could not help but smother a cynical laugh, too bad real life was nothing like this small frozen over garden.

"I am beyond disappointed to see you smoking," I told him with a mock stern look at his face.

"This is for medical purposes," it took him longer than usual to respond to my scolding. His words made me noticed something significant that was missing, there was no stench of tobacco smoke in the air around him.

"Oh my god are you smoking pot?" My tired brain could not handle any more surprises.

He gave me a big smile, obviously the man was seriously high.

"Yeah you want some?" he lifted his, well whatever the weed version of the word for cigarette towards my mouth.

I don't know why I took a drag, probably my never ending curiosity. Phil could pretty much talk me into anything when he smiled at me like that. I inhaled deeply, mimicking Phil's earlier action and immediately started to cough.

"You never do anything by half measures, always jumping in with both feet." I kind of like the tone of admiration in his voice. "Try it again, this time take a smaller breath."

I listened to Phil and took a much smaller breath of smoke, my newfound caution had the added benefit that now I was able to taste the small puff that I pulled into my mouth. It tasted very much like grass, maybe a little extra other sharp flavor I could not recognize - it was not unpleasant, but neither would I be seeking it out in the future.

It only took a few puffs but soon I was giggling along with Phil, I sounded like a freaking fifteen year old high school girl and that was so funny that I continued to giggle.

"Seriously Phil, you are totally ruining your image?" I told him between my laughter.

"I am doing this for you," he became suddenly serious. "I am trying to force another vision, maybe I can see something more."

"It is not your job to protect me," I told him, suddenly not feeling all that amused.

"Of course it is my job." He sounded serious, almost like he was making a promise. "Though you are pretty good at taking care of yourself, but some things you can't do alone. There are situations where even I make sure to take Phila with me."

"Next you are going to tell me you would die to protect me," I giggled slightly, feeling very lightheaded. It was a foreign concept, Phil trying to protect me from harm - for almost a year it had been the other way around for me, I had been protecting everyone else from whatever went bump in the night.

"Speaking of protection I have to leave the country with Phila for the next week or so," he continued. He finally explained where he was going. He volunteered his time and services to do surgery on girls who had been harmed in various methods and did not have access to a plastic surgeon. There were places in the middle east and Africa where it was a popular thing to throw acid in the faces of girls that did things you did not care for. The list of reasons to throw acid in the face included refusing a marriage proposal or trying to go to school. Most of the time it was not just for cosmetic purposes, Phil dealt with the more severe cases where scars were so tight that the girls could not move joints, or they were unable to open their eyes.

He was very apologetic about leaving and taking Phila with him, but she was required to watch his back while he performed surgery. Some of the locals did not appreciate what Phil was doing, this was one of the reasons he did not talk about where he went or what he did. There was a risk that one of the psychos would follow him back to the states and they might harm him or someone associated with him.

"Look Phil, I might call you grandpa but your job is not to protect me. Go do your real job, I will be fine. By the way are you hungry?" The rumors that smoking pot made you ravenous were totally correct, add a werewolf metabolism to that equation and it led to some very hardcore midnight snacking.

* * *

The next day I went back to Earth, Phil threatened me with death and dismemberment if I did not carry my phone with me at all times. "It has a GPS device in it, so if you get in trouble we can find you no matter where you are." Phil had wanted to get a family member to watch over me constantly but I drew the line there. I was pretty much surrounded by people all the time, the vampires that were coming to get me were not going to grab me if there was an audience, at least that is what I told him. The Volturi were too hard core about not exposing yourself to humans.

"We are not sure that it is vampires that killed you in the vision," he reminded me quietly, I noticed could barely get out the word killed.

"Tell me Phil, is there anything else that could do that to me? Are there some mythological creatures that could take me down?" I asked with a heavy sigh.

"Not on Earth," he reluctantly agreed before heading off to pack his things to leave. We had agreed to let someone come stay with me at Phila's apartment.

My roommate Jenny was a little curious as to what I was doing when I came in and started to gather up my things.

I told her a part of the truth, "I seriously can't sleep here, I am so sleep deprived I am making myself sick. So I am going to stay with a family friend for a while, until I can get my own place." It was somewhat sad how quickly I had learned to lie, all I said was technically true but it was not my reason for leaving.

She made me promise to have a girls day out on Wednesday, I whole heartedly agreed. The thought of sightseeing around Seattle for a day was very tempting, I could pretend I was just another normal girl.

Blossom was waiting for me with a small truck right outside the dorms, she quietly helped me put all my things underneath the tarp. It did not take too long, I did not have that many things. Blossom was one of Phil's cousins, she had green eyes just like Phil but her hair was a dark brown and very long - it was twisted in some intricate pattern around her head, I did not envy the time she spent combing that mane of hers. Her features were more delicate than that of Phil but they were not really all that pretty. When I first met Phil I had noticed that his features contained more strength than beauty, the same principle applied to Blossom.

"So what do you want to do now?" She asked me in a jovial tone.

"Nothing much, go back and maybe go to sleep a little earlier tonight." My sleep schedule might have been thrown off by the use of illicit drugs at three in the morning. Phil had not seen anything else, the pot had not helped him gain more information - the only thing it did was to make sure there would be no leftovers in the fridge.

"Huh? Oh yeah I forgot how much time you humans spend sleeping." She said as she rounded a corner at high speed, while flipping stations on the radio.

"What? Don't you sleep?" I asked, come to think of it, other than the one time Phil was faking it in the woods I have never seen him sleeping. He was always awake when I went to bed and up before me cooking breakfast before I woke up.

"We sleep, we just don't need as much of it as you do. An hour here or there usually is enough for us." She told me as she accelerated. "Technically we do sleep, but we kind of do the dolphin thing, you know the part where you shut down a part of your brain while you are still awake."

"Slow down or my stuff will fall out the back." I said looking over my shoulder into the bed of the truck where my stuff was jostling around.

"What, oh sorry," I was happy to note she had slowed down some. I was interrupted from commenting by my phone ringing. Phil was checking up on me, to make sure I was all right.

"I have to go, but thanks for answering." He told me after making sure I was unharmed.

"I am not the one who never answers my phone." I replied, but I don't know if he heard me.

It was the week of Spring Break so I did not have to worry about attending class; on top of it all because most of my paper and tests had been due last week I had nothing to really study. I had to work at the restaurant but that was in the afternoon, so I wasted my Monday morning watching TV at Phila's apartment with Blossom. I managed to convince Blossom to let me take my car to work, she might have noticed I was getting pissed at being treated like a small child.

We were busy again at work, the restaurant was popular among the locals. It was not as fancy as some of the others but the food was good and relatively cheap. I did not have a minute to sit down, so it surprised me that I had enough time to think. But that is alI did all night long while taking orders and refilling water glasses. I was going about my life like any other normal human so my impending death because of some vision was not all that important right now. What was it that occupied my thoughts, pretty much one thing and one thing only - sex, sex ,sex. It had been a while since I had gotten any, and my body suddenly decided it was in dire need of some. Maybe I should have taken Bee up on her offer of a battery operated boyfriend.

My sex life had not been that impressive, Sam had been the only one - and we were both virgins at the beginning. At first I was too upset about breaking up with Sam to think about sex, then I had phased into a wolf and I had a whole new set of problems. But now even with this dark vision of my death hanging over me it was all I could think about. It was like Phil had reminded my body what it was like to have a man; and since my current chances of actually getting some was close to zero, I was not a very happy wolf. It did not help that Phil had not finished what he started, all I needed was one seriously good orgasm. _Yeah right, all you would need is one, keep lying to yourself._

On Tuesday I took the lunch shift at work, so Blossom talked me into going out to dinner with her. I was a college student so I knew better than to refuse free food, Blossom had promised dinner would be her treat.

I don't know exactly what place Blossom took me to. She was following the GPS device in the car, the restaurant was upscale and overlooking water. I was not yet altogether familiar with Seattle especially when it was navigated at Blossom speed, so I quickly stopped trying to figure out our location.

The linens on the tables were the kind you had to iron and change out after every customer, unlike the place I worked at where we pretty much just wiped down the tables. The hostess was a very pretty brown haired girl with too much make-up and an overly friendly voice. I really hated the type, you could be polite and friendly without trying to treat me like I was your best friend.

Blossom asked for an outside table surprising both the hostess and me. It was a little too chilly for a human to be comfortable outside, there was a canopy to protect us from the slight misting rain but it did nothing to shield us from the strong breeze coming in from the water. I noticed that Blossom kept her jacket on, I shrugged out of mine. The waitstaff could think me crazy, I was not going to eat dinner in my heavy winter jacket.

"So why are we outside? Don't you get cold?" I asked when we were alone.

"I noticed you that you looked a little distracted, I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it. Out here we would get a great deal more privacy." She told me, staring at me with those all seeing eyes.

"So what exactly do you do?" I asked suddenly suspicious.

"Shrink." She replied with a smirk on her face, confirming my fears.

"Oh great, now I am going to spend the rest of the evening watching every word I say, just in case you are psychoanalyzing me." I told her with a groan. "Phil had warned me there was a couch loving doctor in the family."

"Don't tell my colleagues, but Freud was a quack. Most things are chemical imbalances that we just have not figured out yet - but they some can be dealt with by simply talking about your problems." She was not exactly subtle with her hints.

Luckily our waiter interrupted before I had to answer her. I was going to have to go on an offensive and make sure the topic never led to me. At this point I would probably spill my guts about being horny and wanting to jump Phil's bones. I blushed just thinking about it.

Our waiter was very formally dressed, in neatly pressed dark slacks as well as pristine white shirt with a dark tie. It would have been almost completely intimidating had he not had a quirky little smile on his face. Was it wrong to assess him as a potential boyfriend? But if I was being honest with myself I was looking for a fuck buddy not really a guy to hang out with. Too bad that I did not like the way he smelled, on top of it all he seemed to bathe in the stuff.

After introducing himself as Todd he quickly took our drink and appetizer orders. He raised his eyebrows a little at the amount of food Blossom ordered. I tried not to smile, the family members tended to eat a lot more food than humans.

"Speaking of emotions and family, how is you little brother holding up?" Blossom asked in a friendly tone, apparently nothing stayed a secret in this family.

"Oh you mean over his breakup, he is very understanding and is partially blaming himself." This kind of bothered me but what could I do about it, this was Seth, he had an unearthly ability to put himself in someone else's shoes. "I think the worst part of it all was all the lectures he got. That and Kendrick, who gave him a big scare." I finished with a laugh.

"Kendrick is really a teddy bear, there is nothing to be afraid of." Blossom told me as she joined in laughing at my brother's predicament.

"Yeah well the tattoos kind of freak me out. How did he get so many of them?" I asked curiously, as far as I could remember his entire left side along with his arm was covered. Talking about a practical stranger was much better than talking about myself.

"You know they are not real? Kendrick is death squad." She explained further when I gave her a confused look. "There are certain member of my family that are better healers than your kind. When a mission looks like it will result in death they are the ones that are sent in to investigate. When they die we piece them together and they start breathing again."

I opened my mouth to ask her about what constituted a suicide mission, but she quickly shook her head at me. I guess she would not talk about that.

"Since tattoos are ink injected under the skin, his body rejects it. So he actually uses a special paint that he reapplies every couple of weeks to get the tattoo look." She continued after our waiter left again, he had brought us our drinks.

"Wow that takes dedication." I told her trying to encourage her to keep on talking. "He must really love his tats."

"He does not love his tattoos, he does it to remember." She explained in a suddenly subdued voice.

"Remember what?" I asked, the curiosity was making me squirm in my chair.

She looked away staring at the water, the sun was setting and the clouds had thinned enough over the horizon that a few weak rays managed to break through. The clouds had changed from their regular dull grey to vibrant hues of orange and red. I somehow doubted that is what occupied Blossom's mind.

"Not what - who. Do you know anything about our binding process?" She told me, I got the impression she had made some sort of decision. Hopefully it meant that I would get more information about the family.

"Phila told me some stuff, it is kind of like imprinting but not as strong." I explained with a shrug.

"Phil and I are a great deal alike, did you know that technically we are half siblings? Our mothers are from a set of identical triplets so genetically speaking we have the same mother, just different fathers." It was confusing but it kind of made sense, what I could not understand was the way she was switching topics on me. "So anyway Phil and I are pretty much mutts, we both of course have the green eye thing that makes it hard for us to relate to outsiders. But like Phil I also have the spirit - where we share our minds with another being."

I just nodded at her, Phila had told me about this. But she had not given me any details, I hoped that Blossom would continue. At the same time I wondered what this had anything to do with Kendrick's tattoos.

"So my kind, we bind because of our green eye genetics but we also do something else because of the spirit." She told me with a laugh. "It is not as confusing as it sounds, luckily when it occurs both aspects of our makeup focus on the same person."

"It would suck if they were different people," I interrupted with a laugh, and here I though I had it bad. "But is sound like a very strong attachment."

"It certainly alters us a great deal, when we meet the right person our spirit has a practical party in our minds. I am told we get hit with image after image of our future with that person; some people can supposedly see their future children." She took a drink and then she laughed. "I am guessing one of us just fading out does not go a long way towards making a good first impression."

I laughed with her, that would probably freak most people out. I knew what was happening to Phil when he had one of his vision and it still scared me. "It sounds very similar binding to me, from Jake's memories it sounds pretty much feels like world stops turning and restarts turning around your mate."

"So what happens if they don't love you back?" Blossom asked.

"I don't know, it has never happened before. But I guess it is hard to resist someone who loves you more than anything in the world and you can practically do no wrong." Emily certainly had not taken long to accept Sam.

"That does not sound like a very healthy relationship. But I guess what the heck do I know about healthy relationships?" Her smile was a little quirky.

"I don't really know, I have not payed too much attention to the relationship the wolves had with their mates. Sam and Emily I sure as heck don't want to know about, but the rest in my current pack are all mated to children so I can't really say they are normal."

Our waiter brought out our many appetizers, interrupting our conversation. The crab dip was really good, much better than the stuff we served at work. I wondered if I could steal their recipe, but I quickly gave up on that plan when I considered my cooking skills.

"What do you mean about relationships, surely you guys have them." I mean you did not live several millennia and not have a boyfriend.

"Some members of my family yes, but others it is simply not possible." She told me around bites of food.

"How so?" My sentences were getting short too, I was busy eating one of the stuffed mushrooms. A little too much garlic but the cheese they used was divine, I think it was provolone but I could not be sure.

"Nobody is perfect, everyone has their faults, but people tend to sort of gloss over the annoying traits of their partner. We concentrate on the good and try to ignore the bad." She told me as she too attacked a mushroom.

I could agree with that, it had been what I had done with Sam.

"It is different for us with spirits. If we are with anyone other than our mates the spirit will kind of throw a hissy fit. It tolerates nonmates for a while but that does not last long; to show its displeasure it starts showing us pictures of all the annoying things our boyfriends do." She told me with a frown on her face.

"Can't you turn it off?" I mean if the spirit thing was that bad maybe they could make it stop working for a while.

"Can you turn off your ability to hear? to smell?" Blossom asked with a raised eyebrow. "It gets really annoying, especially in the middle of intimate moments. Not that Phil will ever admit it but I think he did it with one of his last girlfriends, he called her the wrong name in the middle of sex."

I don't know how I felt about Phil with another woman, but I hoped that he had not felt hurt when that relationship had ended. I listened as Blossom continued her story.

"Some members of my family tried ignoring it and instead they stayed with their lover, that was when things got really bad. You see most of our power is from our mind, the spirit can take a little bit of control of our minds, usually it is to help in some way or another. But in some instances the spirit can go apeshit and use our powers against the lover."

"Um wow, that sucks." I could not imagine what it would feel like if you lost control over your powers and hurt someone you loved. Well I had a little inkling, I had been in Sam's mind and knew how he felt about hurting Emily.

"We deal with it easily enough, we never stay with one person long and are usually unfaithful." She told me in a matter of fact tone.

Their solution to the problem was upsetting but what alternative did they really have? It was important not to let your powers hurt the one you care about but at the same time this sounded like just a good excuse to be unfaithful.

"Our method is not that much different than your imprinting, but a lot weaker. I heard imprinting described as an unbreakable chain; binding is much more subtle." She told me with a shrug.

"So what is it like?" I was interested enough that I had stopped eating, which says a great deal when it comes to a wolf.

"My mother said it most eloquently. 'You take their dreams and make them your own.' At least that is the pretty version." She took a few bites of her food before continuing. "The not so pretty version is we get very protective, and if you mess with our mates you might as well bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. We don't play around much when it comes to protecting our mates; we kill first and ask questions after."

The idea that they made their mates dreams their own was intriguing. "So what happens if your mate's dream is to be rich? Do you give them money?"

"No it is much more subtle than that, we help them find the means to attain their goals. So if they want to be rich, we give them guidance and suggestions as to how they would earn money." Blossom clarified.

"That is interesting, but what does this have to do with Kendrick's tattoos?" I asked her remembering our original topic.

"He failed to protect his mate," she told me quietly. "The tattoos are a reminder of her."

I did not need to ask what she meant by that. There were stories of what happened if a wolf lost his mate. The conversation stalled after that, but it might have been because we finally got our entrees and were too busy eating.

It was in the middle of ordering dessert that my phone went off. I answered and reassure Phil that I was all right.

"Yes I am fine, no I am just eating dinner with Blossom." The waiter gave me a strange look.

"Her psycho boyfriend." Blossom explained to the waiter in a nonchalant tone as she ordered the bread pudding.

He started to look worried as he wrote down her order.

"Don't listen to her, it is nothing like that, he is out of the country right now and calls to make sure I am doing all right." I explained to him. I was not going to go into the fact that Phil was not my boyfriend, it would only confuse him more.

"So what would happen if I did not answer my phone?" I asked Blossom after the waiter had taken my order for strawberry cheesecake.

"At this point, he would probably call the cavalry." She told me seriously. "Several members of the family would be organized to search for you. You would also manage to get a more severe lecture than your brother."

"Great," I felt slightly pissed, I was an adult, this babysitting stuff was starting to piss me off and it had only been two days.

"Think of it this way Leah, if you are dead you no longer feel anything. But the rest of the people who care about you have to go on living without you."

I had nothing to say in reply, instead but that was all right because the dessert arrived. I would allow for the babysitting duty for now, I did not want to do something stupid - as strong as my mother might be I do not think she would survive another loss.

A change of topic seemed appropriate at this point. "So if you have the spirit it goes crazy when you meet your mate, but what happens to people with only green eyes?" The green eyed ones would not be bombarded with visions since they did not get any.

"Depends on wether you are male or female." Blossom told me around bites of her dessert. "For males they see girl and instantly get all protective."

"What about for girls?" I asked wondering how it was different.

"Well the theory is that males are generally more visual. They see girl, so they want to protect girl. Kind of like your pack, they see girl they imprint. With females it gets a little different, they need to be more emotionally invested in a person before they can bind." She paused for a moment trying to get her thoughts together. "So they see their mate but they do not really bind until they enter a relationship with them."

"Oh Fuck," I blurted out when something occurred to me. "Is that possible for my kind?"

"Very likely, you are female, girls are not as visually stimulated as boys." She told me with a laugh. "I mean look at the porn industry, videos for males and mostly books for girls."

"So what you are telling me is that our waiter could be my mate, I would not know unless I dated him for a while." I said utterly disgusted, this was so unfair. Why could things not be easy? See mate, imprint, end of problem.

"Yeah something like that. But I would not worry about our waiter being your mate." Blossom told me with a mischievous smile.

I knew something was coming but I could not tell what, so I decided to ask the question she wanted me to. "Why not the waiter?"

"Because you would not get very far. He is very, very gay." She told me wagging her eyebrows at me, making me laugh.

* * *

The next morning I called Jenny to see if we were still doing something together. After the information overload of the previous night I was ready for some lighter subjects.

"So where are we headed?" I asked Jenny as we got into my car.

"I thought the Seattle Aquarium would be fun. There are not that many of those around Idaho." She suggested with a smile.

"I've got nothing better to do. Do you know the way?" I asked her, smiling back.

Turned out that Jenny could give Phil a run for his money when it came to the inability to navigate. I knew the general vicinity of the place but not well enough to drive there without directions. I had been there before with my parents when I was a little girl but not anytime recently.

Fortunately once we got close enough I could navigate using the signs. After parking and paying for our tickets we joined the other tourists walking past the exhibits. Jenny was absolutely fascinated with the tide pool exhibit.

"Ooooh, I wonder what it would be like to touch one." She asked eyeing a starfish.

"I am sure we can find an exhibit for kids, those usually let you touch." I told her laughing.

"Ha, ha, very funny. Some of us don't take all this for granted." She told me sticking her tongue out.

In a way she was correct, but I had come to appreciate the natural world around me. Especially when I had started to go hiking with Phil, he too had poked and touched everything from leaves to frogs on our rambling walks through the forest.

"I will tell you what, one day I will take you to my Rez and then I will show you real tide pools." I was feeling in a generous mood today.

"Really? Is that a promise?" Jenny asked, a big smile lighting up her face.

I have to admit even I was impressed with the 'Window on Washington Waters' exhibit. The scale of it was immense, as was the variety of fish.

"Is it wrong to be thinking about how many of those fish I have eaten?" I asked Jenny as another salmon swam by.

She looked at me for a moment before she burst out laughing. "Is that a subtle hint that we should go find something to eat."

"What? I am a growing girl. Plus it helps that my daddy was a fisherman." We decided to go ultimate tourist and go to Pike Place Market. Even on a weekday it was very busy with pedestrian traffic. We followed our noses to one of the plethora of food stalls.

We gobbled down hot fried fish and "chips" as the British like to call french fries. I finished mine quickly and was wondering if it would look suspicious if I went for another round when I heard my phone ring.

I answered it without thinking, that was my first mistake. Not checking my caller ID.

"Hello?" I said after my initial hello had gone unanswered.

"Leah, this is Emily." I heard my cousin's voice, it sounded somewhat hesitant.

There went my good mood, this was not going to be pleasant. I was wondering who I was going to have to kill for giving Emily this number.

She beat around the bush for a while, not really getting to her point. Asking about my classes and talking about mutual friends. I rolled my eyes enough times that Jenny was listening intently to my side of the conversation wondering who the hell I was talking to.

"So, I asked your mother how to get in contact with you." Well that sucked, since I could not kick my mother's ass for giving me away. "You see the wedding is in less than a month and you need to do some things." Emily told me, finally getting to what she actually called about. "Your mother told me that you were on spring break, so you could come up and get fitted for your bridesmaid dress."

The thought of spending any amount of time being fitted for a dress sounded less than appealing, but doing this for Emily's wedding I would rather face another newborn attack. At least it would be over quickly with the newborns, they would not torture me.

"Oh come on Leah, you promised. The seamstress will be here until six today." She told me with a cajoling tone. For a moment I considered lying and telling her I had to work, but my mother would kill me if she ever found out. Emily was still technically family, and my mother had raised me to treat family a certain way. Too bad Emily had not been taught the same thing, not that I wanted Sam anymore but it had hurt a great deal for a long while. Emily should have been there for me, instead she had caused me even more pain. Our friendship had died a long time ago, me being a bridesmaid was just something I was doing for family obligations.

I practically hung up without saying goodbye. I might as well get this over with. "Sorry Jenny, I have to go."

"Is everything all right?" She asked worried.

"Nothing much, I just have to go back to the Rez today so I can be fitted for a bridesmaid dress." I made gagging noises in case she did not fully comprehend that I did not want to do this.

Jenny laughed at me. "Could you sound a little less enthusiastic?"

"Did I mention it was the wedding of my former best friend to my former boyfriend?" Normally I did not share this sort of stuff with outsiders, but I was pissed that my good day had been ruined.

"Ummm, hey can I come with you? I can help you give her bad advice so that her wedding dress makes her look fat." Jenny said with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Plus you can show me the tide pools."

"I like the way you think. Remind me never to get on your bad side." I told her with a laugh. Jenny was a truly good friend.

So I don't know how it happened but soon I was on the way to La Push with Jenny sitting in the passenger seat. Jenny kept up a steady stream of chatter, it helped keep my thoughts away from the unpleasant activities I would have to engage in soon. Being polite to Emily, among some of the more irksome ones.

So it did not take much convincing on Jenny's part for me to stop at a beach before we headed to the Rez.

"Look there is one, it says beach." Jenny told me excitedly. "Quickly turn onto that road."

I thought it was kind of funny, she picked the same beach Phil had chosen on our first ride.

"Wow this is so cool." Jenny hopped out of the car before the car was fully stopped. Unlike Phil, I parked in the designated areas, I did not drive onto the beach.

The beach looked pretty much the same as before, the picnic table and lifeguard tower may have lost a little more paint. I watched as Jenny ran around picking up seashells, not realizing that the most of the beach was made up of either seashells or rocks.

"So where are these tidal pools?" She asked looking around excitedly.

"I think the tide is not right for those right now." She seemed upset by the fact until I promised I would show her pretty ones soon.

It was in the middle of laughing at Jenny's antics when they showed up. Phil had been right when he had told Jake that his vision was imminent. I might not have been a psychic but I did not think I would live past tonight.

There were six of them, all with bright ruby eyes in their pale faces. Two were female but the other four were male. They did not have the worn look of nomads, these ones were different. They looked like they had access to new clothes, and a comb.

"Why hello." One of the women said in that freakish sing song voice you only ever heard in leeches.

I froze on the spot trying to think. Phil had seem me dead, he told me I had put up a big fight. I had to use my brain, I could not take on six of them, to do so would mean instant death. From their bright red eyes I would guess they were not hungry, this was about something else. Especially since there were six of them all together, from what I knew such large groups usually did not coexist; the Cullen family was the exception not a rule for how many vampires could actually live together.

"She looks like what he wanted," one of the males said. I instantly wondered who this "he" was. "Maybe she will survive longer than the last one."

"Yes, one of the natives, bring the other one too. She might be a good snack." I watched as one of the males moved at vampire speed to grab a hold of Jenny. For a moment I had forgotten about her presence, even if I could shift fast enough there was Jenny to consider. There was no way I would be able to leave her to the care of these things.

So I did the only thing I could, after some screaming and fake fighting not using my full strength I allowed them to lead me away. From the way they were treating me they did not know I was a wolf. This would be to my advantage, knowledge was power.

* * *

A/N: Wow that felt like a long chapter, but I could not seem to find a good place to break it up. Seriously though I will try to get the next chapter up soon, since it was such a mean ending but I make no promises.

I forgot who had asked earlier about the fact that Leah had not imprinted, well here is my explanation.

ABarbieStory: I was a little worried about the authenticity of the kiss so I am glad you liked it. You wanted to know if Phil's vision was more intense because of the kiss, he pretty much had vision, freaked out and then kissed her. I think this chapter answered who the vision was about.

Toshii519: Glad you liked Bee considering getting Leah a bob, girls need some loving too. :D

Connect2tjb: Don't you know patience is a virtue (...one that I don't have either.) So you might not be happy when I say that my next chapter might be a while.

Ms Animegoddess: So happy to know the kiss worked, I like Bee too - she is old enough that she does not have to conform to the usual social rules. Jeans are not awesome but they fit :D. Pretty much any recipe Phil can cook is something that I have made.

Whip cream with cream cheese recipe:

8 ounces cream cheese, left out to soften

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or you can use almond extract)

pinch of salt

Mix in standing mixer until creamy then add 2 cups heavy cream, mix again until fluffy while scrapping the sides of the mixer to make sure to get all the cream cheese to blend in with the whipped cream.

*New plan for losing weight, tell everyone around me yummy recipes so that they can get fat along with me.


	25. The Doctor

24 - The Doctor

Jenny was screaming at the top of her lungs, I was keeping up the pretense of trying to pull away while going through my list of curse words. I emphasized some of the swearing with trying to kick them in the shins. I tried not to kick too hard, no need to hurt my toes. I wanted to resist enough that I would not rouse their suspicions but not too hard that they would notice that I was stronger than your average twenty year old girl. I kept taking cues from Jenny and trying to mimic her actions.

Had I been human my forearms would have been covered with bruises, two big males had grabbed each one of my arms and were part dragging me and part carrying me to our destination. Jenny was getting the same treatment, she too was trying claw and fight her way away from her captors - amazingly despite her desperate attempts there was no scent of blood in the air. I wished with al my heart that it was possible to tell her not to bother fighting but that would give me away. Right now I wanted them to think of me as a puny, weak little human. I was safe for a moment so long as they did not find out that I was a wolf. I knew vampires had this huge grudge against wolves.

_ For the moment was the key word, I was safe for the moment._

I was glad that one of the leeches threatened to break Jenny's jaw if she continued to scream. It was not that I wanted her hurt, but it was hard for me to think with as much noise as she was making. In a morbid moment I wondered how much louder she would scream if she actually knew what these things were.

I looked around trying to glean enough information about what was going on so that I could decide what my next step should be. They were leading us around Forks, away from any habited areas, but at the same time we were getting closer to the Rez. I am glad we had told Sam about "Alice's" vision, I only hope he took it seriously and increased patrols. The main problem was that even if I shifted to wolf form I could not communicate with any of Sam's pack, so unless one of my pack was in wolf form I was screwed. But I might get lucky and run into one of Sam's patrols.

Speaking of Phil and his visions, he was not going to like it when I did not answer my phone, I really hoped Blossom was right when she told me he would completely overreact. I could really use some back up, though I don't know how he would find me. My phone, with the GPS device, was in my car. I had taken it out of my back pocked when I got in the car and put it in the cup holder.

_Phil is really smart, he will figure something out, maybe he will have a vision_. I told myself, otherwise I would have to come up with a plan to deal with six vampires all by myself. I looked them over one more time, they did look domesticated, that was glaringly obvious. Their clothing matched and was of the right size, another thing was their hair, it looked clean and combed. They looked of varying nationalities, all spoke english but two of the males and one of the females had a heavy accent that I could not place.

They were discussing something at vampire speed but I could not understand what they were talking about, it did not help me that they would switch to another language every other sentence. Jenny was now being carried, her screams were little whimpers right now. She would try to kick out every once in a while, I think the poor girl had exhausted herself fighting. This observation did not change much, there was no way Jenny could outrun these guys and if we managed to make a run for it I would somehow have to carry Jenny.

It did not take us very long to get to our destination, we had gone west while staying close to the coast. I could hear the waves in the distance as well as smell the salt in the air, the Pacific Ocean was close by. This was a good thing in my book, if I can somehow get away I would head for the water. The leeches would not be able to follow my scent through the water, I could not go as fast as normal since I had to take Jenny with me so maybe we could get lost in the water.

We got to a small cabin in the middle of the woods, the building was so small it should really be called a shack. There was plywood on the ground next to the windows, I got the impression the vampires had pulled the pieces of wood off the windows and moved right on it. The underbrush of the forest had grown so that it was touching the back wall. This was not Phil's cabin with it's constant care and all the modern amenities. I wondered if it was someone's abandoned hunting lodge. There was no discernible road leading up to the place, so whoever used this had to walk here. That would mean no electricity and probably no phone for me to use.

My eyes were moving all around trying to find some way to escape, that was when I heard the door of the shack creak open. Out walked another leech with ruby red eyes. These were some really well fed vampires, I wondered why we had not picked up on their activities before now. The suspicion popped into my head that they knew there were wolves in the region and were working to avoid notice; it was not like our existence was a great secret anymore.

The new leech was dressed in dark pants, and a bright orange polo shirt. His boots looked designer, again I wondered how he was getting the money to fund this little operation. Other than Carlisle I did not know any vampire that had a real job. I was going to go with the assumption that this was the "he" the other leeches had been referring to.

"Doctor, we brought you what you asked us. We think this is one of the natives you wanted." The vampire holding my right hand spoke in a ingratiating tone. I heard one of the other leeches mumble "kiss ass" under their breath. It was so low that it was barely discernible even with my extra wolf hearing. There was some tension among the ranks, this was good to know, a possible weakness that could be exploited later on.

I looked around trying to figure out what the hell this "doctor" could possibly want with me. It was not very reassuring that I could smell old blood radiating out of the small cabin, looks like we would not be his first victims. Again I wondered how Sam had not picked up on the fact that there were seven vampires operating in this area.

The doctor was very excited when he saw me, his eyes lit up as he rubbed his hands together. "Looks like one of the natives, this is good. Go hunting for more of them, I can deal with these two."

I tried to keep the smile off my face. _Yes send you little minions away. Your ass is mine, bitch_. I really needed to improve my vocabulary but I was willing to bet most people would consider my words appropriate for the current situation.

"Can we get the brown haired human?" One of the vampires asked, she was eyeing Jenny with a hungry look.

I panicked for a moment, this would not be good, I needed Jenny to stay with me.

"I will require her so that I will not kill this one when I try to impregnate her." The doctor leech told them with a scowl on his face.

Impregnate me? What the hell was that supposed to mean?

My mind was trying to do too many things at once, but the fear was giving me a little extra computing power. I remembered the guardians talking about some South American leech that was going around impregnating human women, trying to create hybrids. But then why was he looking for "natives" as he called me?

"Remember, leave no evidence. There are some werewolves around and we don't want them knowing what we are doing. Now go find me more." The doctor told them curtly. So they did know about wolves, luckily they did not know about the fact that I was one too.

"You don't need to worry about drinking from this one," the leech holding my left arm growled with a great deal of disgust. "She really stinks." _The feeling is mutual you leech._

Without warning I was shoved through the open door of the cabin. I pretended to stumble and fall as I stepped over the threshold. I quickly looked around, trying to find some clue as to who these guys were, and any means of escape.

Nondescript furniture, check, old blood, check, pack of vampires, check. This really was not looking good. _Hey Phil you had better call me and notice I am not picking up the phone because it looks like your vision is about to be fulfilled. _Much to my dismay I noticed that there was no back door to the place.

Jenny was thrown inside as well, she did not fare as well as I did. I heard the crack of bone breaking as she landed on her hands and knees. She gave a cry of agony, I quickly moved over to where she was on the floor. She was whimpering and cradling her left arm, half carrying her as far away from the leech as possible I tried to prop her up next to the wall. Her left wrist was at a very odd angle, I did not need a medical degree to know what the problem was. Fortunately it had not broken through her skin, I do not know what would have happened had there been blood. I got the distinct impression that these leeches would not try to restrain themselves too much if Jenny started bleeding.

"Leave me so that I can do my work. Science takes a great deal of concentration and I do not need an audience." I guess he did not like an audience when he raped a girl. Yeah well he would be in for a surprise when this girl took him down.

I watched and waited as the other leeches left, I was finally getting lucky. The doctor was very certain of himself, his arrogance was going to cost him today. I might not be able to burn him, but tearing him apart would give me a great deal of pleasure. And as an added bonus it would give me enough time to make my get away. I had decided at this point retreat would be the best course of action, especially since I had to keep Jenny alive.

"Leave me to my work, and don't come back unless it is to bring me more test subjects." The doctor gave some last minute instructions to his henchmen before coming into through the door.

"Divide yourself into two groups, that way you can cover more ground." I had heard him instruct them. "And make sure no one notices you, especially not those abnormal light-eyed vampires." Then I heard the sweetest sound ever, the whooshing sound the leeches made as they left - this was looking really good for me.

"What do you want?" My voice came out somewhat growling and my hands were shaking, I needed to hang on for a little bit longer. I had to buy some time so that his minions would be far enough away that they would not come back to help him. My plan was pretty simple, phase and kick his ass but first I would have to move away from Jenny so my phasing would not harm her. This was harder than I originally thought as Jenny would not stop clinging to me, finally I just stood up and walked towards the leech - Jenny was not about to follow.

"You are a lucky girl, I am very picky about my test subjects. You should feel honored that you are in the presence of such an important scientist." He told me while looking down his nose at me. I could not help the look of disgust that spread on my face at that time. Fortunately he was too busy going on about himself. "One of the few researchers of my kind, I am far superior to these humans that claim to study science. Their feeble minds cannot even comprehend what I am doing." He went on and on and I let him, biding my time, hoping that the other vampires got far enough away that they did not hear. Seriously this guy obviously was not a James Bond fan, otherwise he would know that the bad guy does not go on blabbing his plan to the good guy.

"Why am I talking to cattle, you cannot possibly understand my genius." He did not look like he was actually expecting an answer. This guy certainly liked the sound of his own voice.

He turned his attention to Jenny. "Now it is time for a light snack before I start the experiment." Jenny realized that the vampire had her in his sights again started screaming at the top of her lungs.

The leech made his final mistake, he turned his back on me. I did not waste time taking off any of my clothes before I phased into a wolf. The speed with which I phased was possibly faster than when Phil and I met the three vamps in the forest, but I had a great deal of encouragement since if I did not do this fast enough Jenny would die. The sound of my friend's screams were welcome for the first time today, they helped disguise the noise of me phasing and ripping through all my clothes.

I was right that the leech doctor was somewhat on the dramatic side, he was dragging out the stalking of Jenny. He was moving at human speed towards my friend, that fact probably saved her life. Had he been moving at vampire speed I would not have been able to stop him before he bit her.

Poor Jenny looked left and right while trying to press herself into the side of the shack trying to escape the crazy thing heading towards her.

I jumped on his back, making him topple over less than a foot from Jenny. I bit through his neck as fast as I could, before he even had a chance to recover from my surprise attack.

I then proceeded to systematically remove his arms and legs, which by the way what the legends fail to mention is that as much as vampires might stink it was nothing compared to how horrible they tasted. I threw his limbs to the four corners of the small room before I shifted back to human form. I did not think it was possible, but Jenny's screams got louder. I don't know why she was bothering going to college, she could make a fine living as an opera singer.

"Would you stop screaming for a minute and listen." I said grabbing her upper arms and giving her a little shake. She flinched and I remembered she was probably seriously bruised there from being carried by the leeches.

Jenny's eyes were as big as saucers, and filled with fear. I knew she needed me to stop and reassure her but we really did not have the time for that. One of the leeches arms was moving closer to his body, I quickly kicked it away before it could touch Jenny.

"If you want to live I need you to come with me." I knew it sounded cliche but she would not survive against these leeches. "I promise I am one of the good guys. Do you understand what I am saying?"

"Leah what was that?" She asked looking down at the vampire in pieces scattered around the room. "And what are you?"

"I will explain in a little bit but we really have to go. Now." So I might have growled that at her but she seemed to understand the urgency of my voice.

"I don't think I can walk very fast." She said nervously. "I think my foot is hurt or something kicking one of those things."

"Don't worry, I will be carrying you." I told her quickly as I picked her up and moved around the still twitching vampire. I kicked his head one more time. "Fucking leech, I will be back for you later." I told the leech doctor's head as we headed out the door. I wish there was a lighter or something to set his parts on fire, but getting Jenny to a safe spot was a priority right now.

I tried to pick up the scent of where the other vampires had gone so that I could go in an opposite direction but they had spent a lot of time in this region and their scent coated everything around the cabin. I could not tell what was fresh and what was old - time was of the essence so making quick a decision was important.

"To the coast it is." I told Jenny knowing she would not understand what I was talking about. I am sure we made a lovely picture, me naked as a jaybird carrying a girl in my arms. _But at least we were both still alive, for now._

I worried about the scent trail I was leaving behind me, I had a unique smell so they would be able to track me if I did not break the trail somehow. I could outrun them in wolf form, but I was too slow in human form carrying Jenny.

Crossing a large river that would be my best tactic for covering up my tracks. Unfortunately I could not think of any major rivers in my vicinity. I looked at the girl in my arms, she was whimpering with every step I took, while trying to cradle her left wrist. My running must be agony for her, I was jostling her arm with every step as my large strides moved us away from the shack. "What to do? What to do?" I mumbled under my breath.

I needed help with both Jenny's hand and the six leeches running around, changing my course I moved through the woods making a straight line for the reservation - I was hoping to find sanctuary there. I needed someone to take a look at Jenny's hand, preferably from the medical profession but more importantly I needed backup. _Please let my pack be home, it would really suck to have escaped the leeches only to be captured again._

I should have known fate was going to screw me over, she had been a total bitch to me in the pat year. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving through the trees, and whatever it might be it was moving very fast. There were only two things I knew that could move that fast and one of them was vampire. I did not stick around to ask if it was friend or foe, instead I switched directions again; this time heading towards the strong salty scent of the ocean.

I soon saw the break in the trees in front of me, I tried to pick up speed while making sure I did not smack Jenny's head against a tree. This was going to be a hail mary, as we cleared the tree line I picked up even more speed. Jenny was starting to moan really loudly as I jostled her, she sure as hell was not going to like what would happen next. Not bothering to stop and look down I jumped off the cliff trying to get as far away as possible in order to avoid any rocks that tended to be close to the shoreline. We flew through the air for what seemed like eternity and then we hit the water.

The speed and angle with which we entered the water made it feel like hitting a brick wall. I immediately lost my hold on Jenny, the waves water pulled her away from my grasp. I kicked my way back to the surface to catch my breath, much to my dismay Jenny was nowhere to be seen. "Jenny?" I said but not too loudly, I did not want to alert the vampires. They were faster in the water than I was, and they had the extra advantage of not having to breathe.

I treaded water while trying to spot Jenny, hoping against hope that she would come up to the surface on her own. Not knowing how much breath she had left when we hit the water I did not wait for her too long. Taking a deep breath I went back underwater to try to locate her. Between the seawater stinging my eyes and the turbulence of the waves lifting up all sorts of sediment visibility was horrible. There might have been a flash of her pink shirt somewhere to my right so that is what I followed. Heading up to the surface I quickly took another breath and swam towards what I hoped was going to be Jenny.

She had been pulled down further than I had originally thought, it was a good thing I had werewolf strength or we would both have lost our lives to the Pacific Ocean. I dragged her to the surface but did not give her too much time to recover. Wrapping my arms underneath her arms to keep her above water I used my strong legs to kick and propel as through the water. There were jagged rocks close to shore so I took us parallel to the shore, there should be a safe place for us to go to shore soon.

I finally spotted what I was looking for, a natural cave. The coastline was riddled with these things, the water carved them out of the cliffs taking the softer stone first. Seeing a possible sanctuary I kicked extra hard and I now steered us towards the shore.

Jenny collapsed as soon as we hit solid ground, she was shivering uncontrollably after being in the frigid March water. I had forgotten she was not immune to the cold Pacific Ocean, she was probably going to get hypothermic on me. I dragged her inside the shelter of the small cave, the tide was going out right now so we would be safe here for a few hours. The cave was twisted so that it almost curved back on itself, I had hit pay dirt with this place. If we went all the way into the tunnel part of the cave would shelter us so that we would not be seen if someone stood looking into the cave. This is where I deposited Jenny's shivering body. It would be good spot to wait to be rescued, the way Jenny was shivering I did not think we could make it to the reservation without backup.

"Jenny are you all right?" I asked stupidly not knowing what else to do.

"I am so c-cold." She said through chattering teeth.

"I need to get your clothes off, my body is warm it will help you get a little warmer." I tried to remember everything I could about survival training. Get their wet clothes off was one of the first and only things I could remember.

I stripped her down to her bra and panties. I had to rip her shirt off so as not to jar her broken wrist. I wrapped myself around her, trying to press as much of my warm skin against her shivering body as possible. Hmmmm now we were both naked as jaybirds.

She did not say anything for a few minutes but I felt like her shivering lessen a bit. I should have probably shifted to wolf to see if my pack was looking for me, but I did not think Jenny could handle it right now. She was clinging to me like a baby to her safety blanket.

"What were those things? I have never seen a person do that." She asked her teeth still chattering loudly.

"Leeches ... vampires." I told her by way of explanation, at this point I think the secret was out.

"Those things only exist in stories." She told me in a matter of fact voice.

The situation did not really call for it but I could not help but laugh. "I wish that was the case, but unfortunately not."

She was quiet for a few minutes before she asked another question. "Why did you jump in the water?"

"So that they could not follow our scent. Vampires have a really good sense of smell, as well as hearing. I am kind of hoping the crashing of the waves will disguise the fact that we are hiding here." It was loud enough that I could not hear anything going on outside, so theoretically nothing could hear what was going on in here.

"Oh," she said, not being able to come up with a better answer. I was kind of proud of her, she was taking this pretty well. Most people would not have been this calm when they were being chased by bloodthirsty vampires and their friend turned into a large wolf.

I looked around us, taking in our surroundings. Trying to decide how defendable this position actually was. I saw something that made me laugh again.

"Did I not tell you I would show you a tidal pool? Well if you look to your right there is one right there." I said pointing in the right direction with my chin. There was a beautiful one teeming with life.

"I think I would have preferred to see one under a little bit different circumstances." Jenny told me with a small laugh. "So what are you?" She continued in a very quiet voice.

"I am a shapeshifter, some might call me a werewolf but I don't do the biting thing." I reassured her. I was surprised that I could tell her this, for some reason Sam's edict must be wearing off. I wondered if it was a factor of time or distance?

"So how did you become this...um shifter?" She asked searching for a polite word for what I was.

"I was born this way, and certain things triggered the transformation." I told her in a matter of fact voice. Trying to make sure she understood that I was not contagious or anything.

"So did you kill that guy?" She asked again after a few minutes.

"Sorry no, I could not find anything to burn him with." I told her, regret filling my voice. "The only way to make sure they are permanently dead is to set them on fire."

"So does that mean he will come after us?" She was not reassured by my answer.

"Only after his companions piece him back together." I told her with a smirk. That leech got his ass handed to him today.

"So where did those things come from? And how come I never heard about them?" She asked in a scared tone.

"That is a really long story." I answered with a sigh. One I was not sure I wanted her to know, she did not need to have my nightmares.

Jenny's shivering had slowed down but not stopped completely, her hair was still wet, I remembered something else about hypothermia. You were not allowed to fall asleep because you might never wake up. I should keep her talking just in case.

"What do we do now?" Jenny asked after some time while I racked my brain trying to remember more survival skills.

"I though we were being followed by them and did not want to fight that many. So right now we are waiting for the vampires to move on, in a little bit when you dry off some we might try to make our way to my home." It was not the best plan but it was better than any other I could think of.

"Can we call the police?" Jenny suggested in a hopeful tone.

"They would not be very helpful. In fact they would pretty much just end up dead. So it would be best if we did not involve the authorities." I quickly explained. I hated to burst her bubble but I would not want her calling 9-1-1 on me. That would cause more problems than solutions.

"What if they capture us again?" Jenny asked in a small voice.

"I am trying to avoid that at all costs but even in the even if they manage to recapture us we still have a chance to survive." I told her trying to reassure both her and myself.

"What do you need time for?" She asked the question I wanted her to. I could have just gone along and told her without making her ask but I wanted her to keep talking. If she was talking she was not falling asleep on me.

"Very soon someone is going to call me on my phone, to check in and make sure I am unharmed. When I don't pick up he will move heaven and earth to find his Princess." I said this to comfort her but I knew it was the absolute truth as soon as the words left my mouth. It had taken being kidnapped by a group of vampires for my brain to put the pieces together. I kind of had a Princess Buttercup moment - everyone remembers that part of the Princess Bride where Buttercup finally realized that every time Wesley says 'as you wish' what he really means is I love you. Well I figured something out as well, Phil was bound to me.

Every time Phil had called me Princess it had been his way of saying I love you, I should have known by the tone of his voice - it would soften whenever he said Princess. I had been told over and over again how protective the family was of their mates, the fact that Phil called me every couple of hours should have been a large clue for me. I might not know what we were going to do in terms of the future but I knew that at this moment he was searching furiously to find his Princess. Everything else might be confusing but I knew with a certainty that Phil would find me and he would not care who or what he had to destroy in order to accomplish his mission.

I shook my head just thinking about it, had I been so involved with my own problems that I had not realized the significance of how Phil treated me? The fact that he could never say no to me, and if I even hinted that I wanted something he would go out of his way to get it for me.

Phila had told me that the family was really happy when they first bound to their mates. This is exactly how Phil had been when I first met him, nothing would bother him - not even me being a constant bitter shrew. Come to think of it, the only time Phil had been unhappy around me was when he thought I was in danger.

Blossom had told me that when they bound they took their mate's dreams and made them their own. My dream had been to get better, to get over Sam, Phil had pushed and prodded me until I realized that it was not Sam I was missing but castles in the sky. Then when my dream had changed into going to college and making something of myself, Phil had practically filled out my applications. He had not left it alone after that, instead he helped me find a place to stay as well as suggested the job I should get in order to support myself. I mean hello, how blind was I?

"Are you sure?" Jenny asked me in a dubious tone. I had been so involved in my revelation that I had almost forgotten about her.

"Don't worry he will come, and when he does he will help me tear those vampires apart." I assured both Jenny and myself; but I was getting more sure of Phil by the second.

It was like a light had gone off somewhere in my head, all of Phil's actions and reactions made so much more sense when I added the fact that Phil had bound to me.

"So this guy that is going to save us, is he like your boyfriend?" Jenny asked almost like she was hearing my thoughts.

"Not exactly," I told her trying to think of a way to explain it to her. All of a sudden risking my friendship with Phil did not seem that much of a risk compared to the potential reward. He was not my boyfriend, but I was going to rectify that problem as soon as possible. On top of all that the bastard owed me a real date: we are talking flowers, dinner and a movie.

"So how can you be so sure he will save you?" She asked in a worried tone.

"Because he has already saved me." I told her though that was not quite correct. I had save myself, Phil had just helped push me in the right direction. There was one thing that I could not understand, why the heck he had not told me he had bound to me. It would have made my life a heck of a lot easier if he had just come up to me in that dinner and said 'hey there, I am your soulmate'. Ok so that would not have gone off too well, I would have probably tried to kick his ass while pushing him away with both hands. He could have said something after he took me to the island, I would not have ripped his head off at that point.

Jenny was starting to whimper even more now, any little movement would cause her to cry out - now that she was no longer freezing to death she must be aware of her broken wrist. In order to distract her from the pain I asked about her family and what it was like growing up on a dairy farm in Idaho. It was in the middle of her explanation as to why you need a glove that went all the way up to your shoulder while examining a cow that I suddenly put a hand over her mouth. She opened her mouth to protest, but she must have understood quickly because her eyes suddenly got large and she too looked towards the front of the cave. There had been a noise, one that stood out from the sounds of the waves as well as the occasional birds. It was the sound of footsteps, I would guess they were made by heavy boots. The noise was not easy to identify since the sound echoed off the walls of the cave.

I pulled away from Jenny and put a finger on my mouth indicating that she needed to be quiet - she was a smart girl and froze almost instantly. I quickly went to look around the bend trying to be as quiet as possible. It would be best to get a little distance from Jenny, that way she would not be in the way if things got down to a fight. I could only hear one set of footsteps, if it was a leech they would be easily taken down. I could not recall if the doctor's minions wore boots or not - well I would find out soon enough.

It had been late afternoon when we made it to Forks and I was going to hazard a guess that we had been in the cave for several hours because the sky was completely dark now. Fortunately my eyes were pretty good even as a human, so I was able to make out the person that just appeared. The only problem was that when things got really dark all I could see is black and white, and so the scene before me was somewhat monochrome.

A woman was walking past the mouth of the cave, I was happy to note that she was moving at human speed. There was something in her hands, it looked like a piece of fabric. Shit, it was a part of Jenny's shirt.

The woman was dressed like a hiker, with boots and a large backpack. She was tall with dark brown skin, that went against the vampire theory and I was happy to note she had a heartbeat. That was another point in her favor.

"Leah are you all right?" She asked in a low voice as soon as she saw me. She had the facial structure that resembled Blossom slightly. "My name is Josefine, Phil is looking for you."

She had said the magic word, Phil. "I am fine, not a scratch on me."

She nodded in acknowledgement but not before she looked me over. "He is very worried, do you want to call him?" Josefine continued as she came closer to me.

She pulled out a small phone, the twin of my own phone that had regrettably been left behind in my car. For a moment I did not believe it, I think we were safe. One of the family members had found us. This was Kendrick's partner, if she was telling the truth. But I do not see why I should not trust her considering the family resemblance.

Before I accepted the phone ran back to Jenny, who still plastered to the wall. "This is Jenny, Jenny this is Josefine. She family and will help us."

"She is all wet? What happened to her?" Josefine asked in a worried voice as she crouched down next to my friend.

"We jumped off a cliff," I told her with a shrug not really ready to give a full explanation. There were other things to worry about, like the fact that Jenny's shivering had gotten worse since I left her alone.

"Jenny, I need you to listen to me. We need to get you dry." Josefine told me as she shrugged off her backpack.

"Careful her wrist is broken," I warned as Josefine ran her hands over Jenny's now extremely blue looking skin. I noticed Jenny was not talking much, but she might have been too busy being cold.

"Call Phil," Josefine reminded me in a stern voice, offering her phone once more.

I opened the phone and found Phil's number while I watched Josefine move Jenny away from the cave wall. Then she pulled a large, thick blanket out of her back pack. I watched as Josefine then wrapped both the blanked and her arms around Jenny, she quickly murmured some incomprehensible words. I was amazed to see steam rising from Jenny's wet hair, it was soon dry.

I was so distracted by what Josefine was doing that it took me a moment to realize that I heard Phil's voice on the phone.

"Hello? Sassy? What is wrong?" I heard him ask in his low voice, even across the phone I could hear his worry.

"Umm... hi Phil this is Leah?" All of a sudden shy, what was I supposed to say to him. _Hi I finally figure out that I am your mate?_

"Leah? Are you hurt? Where are you? Never mind, Sassy has you. I will be there in a few minutes." I heard the click of him hanging up.

"Phil is coming," I told Josefine as I handed back the phone. She shifted Jenny in her arms so that she could put it back in her pocket. I would have offered to hold Jenny in her stead but Josefine did not seem to be bothered much by the weight of my friend.

"Would you like some clothes?" Josefine asked looking me in the eye. In the stress of the situation I had totally forgot the fact that I was naked. Well except for the bracelet Phil had given me.

I ignored her question while I looked down at the bracelet with the mismatched flowers. For christmas Phil had given me a pearl necklace and earrings set, something every young lady should have. For going to college he had given me a perfectly fitting navy blue suit, in case I ever have to look professional. So why had he given me this bracelet that was mismatched, unless there was something about the it that I was missing. Maybe Josefine would tell me, in the past I had learned more about Phil by talking to his family members.

"Josefine? Sassy?" I asked drawing her attention away from where she was examining Jenny's now flushed face with a worried look. "What do these flowers mean?"

Josefine looked me in the eye for a few seconds probably wondering what the fuck I was doing asking about flowers in an emergency situation, I was worried that she would not answer. She looked down at my bracelet her eyes going wide with surprise for a moment before she looked back at me. Finally I heard her resigned sigh, and I could practically smell victory.

She held onto Jenny with one hand, touching each flower on my bracelet as she explained it to me. "Flowers in the old days could be used to send coded messages. Each flower had a certain meaning and when combined could tell a complete story. Forget-me-not means true love, purple hyacinth means I am sorry, please forgive me, and Gardenia means you are lovely but it could also signify a secret love."

I laughed as I remembered a conversation with Phil. I had asked him in anger once if he knew what love was and he had answered that he did indeed. I had fired back wondering if he had told the girl that he loved her, Phil had answered that he had indeed told her but she was not listening.

If giving some coded flower message was his version of declaring his love we were going to have to work on his communication skills.

I was staring at the bracelet when something suddenly grabbed me from behind lifting me off the ground, for a moment I stiffened afraid that the vamps had found us but then I smelt citrus and sage. This time there was also a liberal dose of sweat mixed in but I did not mind. I wrapped my arms around his neck as I felt his arms move up and down my back and arm checking for harm.

"Now Leah how could you just go off..." He started to lecture, I could tell he was upset with me because he was calling me Leah.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I sure as hell did not want to be lectured right now - what I wanted was some comfort. Pulling tightly against his neck I got him close enough to press my mouth against his. It did not take Phil long to figure out what I was trying to do, but I always knew he really was a smart boy.

I had not even completed one foray into his mouth with my tongue when a dry voice not interrupted us.

"Um Phil can you come look at her arm? It does not look good." I heard Sassy say.

I thought of every bad word in my repertoire, what was it with the women of the family that they saw the need to interrupt when things were getting good. I was going to drag Phil to the island and bar his door while we worked this out. My mind instantly came up with several scenarios as to how we could 'work it out'.

Phil let me go with a reluctant sigh, he took off his fleece jacket and put it around me before he went over to examine Jenny's arm.

"It is the left one I am pretty sure it is broken," I told him while I zipped up the jacket. It was long enough that it fell all the way to the middle of my thighs, it was saturated with Phil's unique scent making me inhale deeply as I moved to see what was going on with Jenny.

"Yes it is broken but that is not the real issue," Phil said then he followed it with some cursing under his breath. I was impressed, there were some words I did not know. I was going to have to ask him to teach me.

"This will require extensive surgery." Phil continued as he pulled out his phone. "She needs to go to the island, it will be far faster than anything we could do here." He quickly called Carlisle and told him about something called compartment syndrome.

"I will text everyone to tell them Leah is all right. Kendrick is with your pack so he will tell them." Sassy told me at the same time as she started texting away on her phone.

We went outside the cave, as Phil pulled out his silver tablet to make his calculations for a jump. Pretty soon Jenny and Sassy had disappeared into the mirage.

I looked up at Phil while we waited for my pack to come join. As I had noted before the sun had already set, I could not tell if the mist coating us was from the clouds overhead or from the crashing waves.

"What happened?" I said as he pulled me into his arms. I worried that he might be cold, since I was wearing his jacket. But he seemed not to notice in fact his body temperature seemed to be higher than mine, I decided to think about it later as I snuggled into his shoulder.

"You did not answer your phone. When I had it tracked I found that it was located somewhere in the middle of the Puget Sound." His voice sounded strained. "Don't do that again."

"Please, please tell me my car was not there too." I said feeling hopeless. I would rip those leeches apart if they touched my car. _But who was I kidding I would rip them apart regardless_.

"I am afraid that might be the case, we could not find your car anywhere." He went on to explain that he had called Jake and several members of the family to search for me. "I should warn you, Sam knows that you are somehow missing, we told him Seth got a strange text message from you."

I sighed, I really did not want to think about Sam right now.

"Tell me what happened with you?" Phil said rubbing my back comfortingly while he rested his chin on the top of my head. I inhaled the wonderful smell of Phil, liking where I was. I told him about stopping with Jenny to find her some tide pools, how I had made the decision not to reveal myself as a wolf, and how I had escaped the "doctor" with Jenny in my arms.

"We found the hut, there was no one there. There was no sign of any of the others either, but the scent of vampire venom saturated the floor. Do you know what they wanted?" I could hear the frustration in his voice, it must really be bugging him that he had nothing to attack. Which reminded me of something more vital than bloodthirsty leeches.

"I have a few questions for you Mister." I pulled away from his arms, though only far enough so that he could see my glare.

Suddenly he looked even more worried, he should be since he was in deep shit with me right now.

"Would you care to explain this?" I told him raising my arm so that he could see my bracelet.

His worried expression cleared, he really had a good poker face. "Don't give me that look. Josefine or Sassy or whatever her name is told me what these meant. I want the truth all of it. If I have to sit here all night having a staring contest with you that is what I will do."

"You don't have all night. Your pack is nearly here and I would win all staring contests." He looked up above us as if he heard them coming.

"Then why don't you just give in and tell me." I tried to be reasonable.

His poker face was broken by a slow smile, the dimples came out in full glory. "Now why would I give into you, when it is so much more fun to get you all riled up?"

* * *

A few hours later I was sitting in my bed at my mother's house, getting more and more angry. Not only had Phil managed to avoid my questions, but the arrival of Sam's pack had forced him and Kendrick to disappear. I had warned him before he left that he had better tell me the full truth. I had borrowed Seth's phone as soon as we got home to try to call him but he was not picking up.

"There could be a pack of vampires ripping me to shreds and he does not answer his phone." I mumbled under my breath. I kept grumbling before I finally gave up on Phil and decided to call Carlisle instead to see how Jenny was.

Carlisle reassured me that Jenny was doing fine, the surgery had gone well and she had not woken up because they were keeping her sedated.

I threw the phone on top of my side table and flopped down on my bed. "Jerk, why won't he pick up the phone." I decided a shower was in order, since my hair was crunchy from my salt water swim earlier.

When I came back to bed I searched my drawers for an old tshirt, as I walked to my bed I noticed something on my pillow. It was perfect white rose, just on the cusp of opening up. Attached was a rose charm to add to my bracelet along with a note:

_White rose means eternal love. Phil._

* * *

A/N: I apologize for any typos, it is late and I am too tired to re-read this chapter.

All right, Leah finally figured out what everyone has been telling me. Whip out with the kazoos. Or better yet let us back cake in celebration, I need to find a good recipe for a nice boston cream pie. You know what I am talking about, creamy pudding filling with chocolate on top. I feel like the computer on Portal, I don't know if any of you played that video game but anyway the computer keeps promising cake at the end - turns out the cake is a lie.

Speaking of cake, went to a birthday party the other day, I was not really interested in going but then they lured me over with promises of homemade cake. Leah might be a good slut, I am more discriminating in that I am a dessert slut. Turned out it was store bought angel food cake, I usually have no problem with this because I chop it into pieces, layer my cream cheese whipped cream and top it off with fresh berries. You can go crazy for fourth of July and do strawberries and blueberries and make a little flag.

Did they do that, no of course not, instead they added canned whipped cream and put it in the fridge, needless to say the whipped cream deflated and became liquid that then made the cake all soggy, and kind of nasty and gummy. I was seriously pissed off, I was promised cake and I got that crap instead. Needless to say now I am dreaming of good cake and will keep talking about it until I break down and make me some. All right I take my dessert seriously as I am sure you can tell by now, and I was very upset by the poor offerings of "birthday cake".

ASH186: Yay, you were right, Leah is his mate; he did go a little bit crazy but in the end she kind of got herself out of the mess, he just came and helped her get all the way out.

ABarbieStory: Seriously you need to get some sleep, every other one of your reviews is I need to get more sleep :D. Not that I don't appreciate the conversation. I guess Leah was looking for a 100% guarantee with the imprinting before she jumped into love. I am going with the she really got hurt with Sam and is immensely cautious regarding giving her heart away again, but fate is a fickle bitch (ok so in reality I am the mean one) and has made it so that she has to fall in love before she can know.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked the pot smoking scene, though I felt kind of bad about writing it. Leah is turning into quite the delinquent with Phil helping her along. Glad you like my plan to make everyone else fat around me, though honestly I do enjoy eating healthy foods. Watermelon is my absolute favorite and I could probably eat it breakfast, lunch and dinner. Cooking can be fun, the problems is learning how to keep general ingredients around and cooking with what you have.

Keither Serenity: She could not have fought all six of them, this way she only had to take one down and Jenny is still alive. :D I don't think one of the aliens are going to come back, I think several family members mentioned that they are gone from the area. On the food note, I see my plan is working. :D


	26. Choices

25 - Choices

I woke up abruptly and nearly fell out of my narrow bed, for a moment I could not get my bearings since my still half asleep mind could not seem to work. My brain was getting confused trying to figure out what my mother was doing in the dorms and why was she telling my brother to get ready for school.

"Mom, can't I just sleep a little longer?" Seth's voice sounded muffled, almost like he was hiding underneath a pillow.

"No, you came in very late last night and if I don't make you get up before I leave for work you will oversleep and will be late for school again." I heard my mother's stern reply. "Then I will get a call from one of your smug teachers that are determined that you are a child delinquent."

Memories flooded me as my mind finally started to work again, I was not in the dorms instead I was back home. Suddenly something really important popped up in my mind - Phil. Had I made all that up or had he actually told me he loved me in that roundabout not going to come out and say it kind of way. I quickly opened the drawer on my nightstand and pulled out what was inside.

My rose was starting to wilt, maybe I should have put it in some water. Of course then I would have to explain to my mother why there was a flower in my bedroom. I think Phil might lose all his standing in my mother's eyes if she figured out he was sneaking flowers into my bedroom. I was not ready to explain my relationship with Phil to my mother, in fact I had to figure it out for myself first.

After finding the rose on my bed last night I had immediately rushed to my window, hoping to finally pin him down. I had thrown the small window as wide open as possible but there was nothing outside except an empty cold and wet night. The only noise I could hear was the sound of rain and the fainter sound of the ocean.

I had dashed back to the bed where I had left Seth's phone but when I tried to call Phil yet again but he was still not answering. Looking to my nightstand I considered trying yet again but decided against it, he knew I was looking for him and he had better have a damn good reason for not answering.

I could hear my mother making breakfast and having skipped dinner last night my belly decided to chime in - well more like roar at me. Putting my half wilted rose into a large book, I pressed down firmly hoping that I could dry it out and save it. The note and the small charm would be stashed away safely in my pocket. I wanted something solid to hold onto, a reminder in case I ever got nervous or unsure about Phil. I knew there were some decisions that had to be made, but as of yet I did not know all the variables. I promised myself I would pin Phil down, even if I had to sit on him and bar the door. I was going to have a long talk with him and no one was going to interrupt.

It did not take me long to get dressed, I had taken most of my good clothes to school. So I was in cutoff jeans, a T-shirt full of wholes, and my old flip flops.

"Morning Leah," Seth said with a perky voice from the kitchen table. I grumbled my reply, he was a little too happy this morning considering he slept less than four hours last night.

Kendrick and my pack had showed up very quickly after I tried to get an answer out of Phil and unfortunately Sam's pack was not far behind.

I had tried to thank Kendrick for coming out and finding both my brother and I. Unfortunately he would not be thanked and had immediately downplayed his role in the rescue operation, giving me a wide smile before he told Phil about the pressing need to get going. "The other pack is right behind us, it would be best to clear out."

"Leah you are family, anytime you need help we will always be there. No matter what.." Kendrick had told me, his smile reaching all the way to his beautiful violet eyes. "We will be around but you will not see us," he told us before his image wavered and disappeared. I hear his his heartbeat get quieter as he walked away, but I could not see him anymore. My pack looked very impressed, we did not know that they could go invisible.

Phil who had held me through the entire exchange had given me one more squeeze and then he too disappeared - I could still hear his heartbeat next to me as he followed me to hide behind some shrubs. I had quickly removed his jacket, and phased into a wolf. I was a little nervous phasing into a wolf in front of Phil, while he might intellectually know that I turned into a wolf it is a whole different story to actually see it happening. I should never have doubted my Phil, I got an invisible hug before his jacket was picked up off the ground before it too disappeared.

We had gone to meet Sam's pack before they could come to us and encounter Phil and Kendrick's scents.

Nothing much was accomplished as we had spent several hours searching the region for any signs of the leeches. They too knew the trick of going through water to disguise their tracks. I finally gave up around three in the morning, and headed home with Seth. My mother had been asleep on the couch when we got home, we woke her up and sent her to bed after reassuring her we were unhurt. It really must be hard having both your children be werewolves, I was amazed my mother had not gone insane with worry in the past year.

I had barely sat down at the small kitchen table when there was a knock on the back door. "Morning Mrs. Clearwater," I heard Sam say as he walked into the kitchen, he was not alone. When it rains it pours, or so the old saying went. I watched as Seth took the remaining eggs and dumped them on his plate, Paul had come along with Sam. I grabbed the toast and jar of jam that was on the table pulling them both in front of me - if I did not finish my food quickly Paul the bottomless pit was going to consume every scrap of food. I smeared jam on my toast before stuffing half of the slice into my mouth. Small details like the fact that the food was on someone else's plate did not seem to bother Paul too much, he would grab and eat any food in sight.

"Oh hello Sam, what are you doing here?" My mother asked giving me a searching look. It was too early in the morning for me to start even attempting to interpret my mother's expressions so I gave her a non-committal shrug. I used the excuse that my mouth was full of toast.

"We just came here to talk to Leah and Seth, Jake is supposed to be meeting up with us as well. He should be here soon." Sam explained in a polite tone, was it just now or had he always been such a freaking kiss ass.

"Do I need to make something more to eat?" My mother wondered out loud as she allowed the two large boys to enter her small kitchen. It was suddenly getting very crowded in the tiny room.

"I would not do that, especially since Paul is here. You know what they say, you feed a stray dog once and he will keep coming back for more." I heard Jake comment from the back door, he did not try to come into the already overly crowded room.

We all laughed except for Paul and my mother. Though she did turn back to the sink and start concentrating very dutifully on scrubbing the dirty pan from breakfast.

"Hey Jake," Paul told him while trying to shove him back out the door.

"Stop it you two," Sam interrupted. "We need a plan as to how we are going to be dealing with these new leeches."

I looked around the kitchen, everyone was a little bleary eyed from a definite lack of sleep in the past twenty four hours. It looked like Sam had been out patrolling all night. I felt guilty for a moment, but that quickly passed, Sam had made his choices and he had enough pack members to help him out. There was no reason for him to be out all night, only his own stubbornness. So if he chose to do that it was not my problem any more, I had stopped worrying about his wellbeing a while back.

"Let us take this outside," I told everyone begrudgingly, these were not the visitors I wanted this morning. I wanted someone with green eyes and dimples, was that too much to ask for?

I took them past the small area that constituted my back yard, especially with a guy as volatile as Paul I did not want him getting pissed and breaking my mom's home. "We need a plan," Jake stated quickly as soon as we were past the first set of trees. "There are at least seven vampires running around here. I called the Cullens to ask if they knew anything about this, to see if Alice had any more visions but she was not helpful." I was pretty certain Jake had actually called a family member, not a Cullen, but maybe he did check with Alice.

Jake and Sam argued for a while, the rest of us would make side comments but really they were talking in circles. We finally convinced Sam that the only possible solution was to be ever vigilant, hence more patrols.

"What about Leah, should she not come back here? I mean we could use the extra help in running patrols and she would be safer here than running around somewhere in Seattle." Paul told us with his infinite wisdom.

I jumped down from the log I had been sitting on ready to rip out his throat. It was very easy for him to dismiss all the freaking work I had put into school - luckily for Paul Seth beat me to it.

"Shut up Paul, what do you know?" He told Paul in an angry voice.

Before I could agree Embry who had come along to join into the conversation also jumped to my defense. "Just because you are too much of a dumb-ass to get into college does not mean Leah has to come back to protect you. One wolf is not going to make that much difference. Unless you need her to do your job?"

Paul backed down when his ability to do his job without help was questioned. But I could still tell he had not given up on the idea. "What about your safety? How are you going to defend yourself against them if you meet up with them again."

"Seattle is a big town, it would be hard for them to find me alone there. I have the safety in numbers bit." I retorted in an authoritarian tone. Jake looked at me with raised eyebrows. I had made this same argument less than a week ago, and I ended up being kidnapped. Well things were going to be a little different this time, I was going to keep my cell phone on me at all times. Anyway Phil was back in town, I had the impression he was going to stick to me like white on rice. _Except he was nowhere to be found right now._

The meeting broke up soon after that, Jake offered me his VW Rabbit if I needed a car to get back to school.

"Thanks for reminding me that my car is sleeping with the fishes this morning." I told him sarcastically. "I might have to take you up on your offer, I have work at three this afternoon and so far no way to get there." In all the excitement I almost forgot I had to get to work tonight - seriously being normal was overrated, I had to go to work as well as deal with the supernatural crap. "If something else does not come up in the meantime." I mumbled under my breath, I was kind of hoping Phil would show up. At this point I would take his crazy driving, just so we could be alone for a couple of hours and just hash some stuff out.

My pack collectively rolled their eyes, while Sam and his boys looked around confused. Technically speaking, Phil had left the area sometime in the middle of December and had not been back since then - Sam did not know about my continued interaction with the man, I am sure he would not have approved.

Jake gave me a nod and hurried away stating that he needed to get ready for school. Sometimes I wondered at fate for handing the safety of the tribe over to a bunch of kids, most of whom could not even vote yet.

I went back inside and talked to my mother what I was doing at school while she finished up getting ready for work.

It was a few minutes before nine when I heard the phone in the kitchen ring. "Hello?" I picked up.

"Princess?" I heard him say in his deep voice.

"Phil, are you all right, and more importantly have you ever considered answering your phone?" I grumbled at him, not waiting for him to answer my question I fired off another one. "Why are you not here?"

"Because it would look really strange if I showed up the day after you were kidnapped by vampires. Would you like to meet me at the edge of the woods? Behind your house?" He asked quickly changing the topic.

I hung up the phone before he finished his sentence. I slowed down at the back door to make sure no one would see me making a mad dash across the field behind my mother's house. After noting the coast was clear I ran full speed to the tree line. He was waiting for me, leaning against a tree. He was particularly fond of that pose, not that I was complaining since it really worked for him.

I did not slow my run after seeing him, hopefully he would figure out my intentions. But I should not have doubted him, he was a smart boy. I was swiftly encircled in his arms, the place I wanted to be since I woke up this morning. Citrus and sage were starting to be some of my favorite smells.

"Hi," I said in a subdued tone, I was hit with a wave of shyness. I wanted to take the note he had attached to the rose out just to look at it again, just to tell me again that this man belonged to me. But did he? What if I got it all wrong, maybe he was just a really good friend who cared about me.

"Hi yourself," he said wrapping his arms more tightly around me and resting his chin on top of my head. For a moment we did not say anything, just stood there together.

"We need to go soon. Jenny will be awake and I need you to be there to make the story stick." Phil told me with a tired sigh, I speculated about the amount of sleep he had enjoyed last night. Blossom had mentioned something about the family members not really needing that much sleep, had he been running around these woods after the rest of us had gone home?

"Jenny? Is she all right?" Was I a bad friend for completely forgetting about her?

"She is at the cabin with Phila and Carlisle, she is still sleeping." He reassured me quickly. "Now I need you to understand the story. Your car broke down, it is kind of an ancient vehicle and there were some funny noises it had been making recently. Since you could not get a cell phone signal and call for help you both decided to walkto town. She managed to drop her phone and sprain her wrist during the hike." He looked at me to make sure I was listening. "You finally were able to make a call to me and I came to pick you up. When we got to the cabin she was in a lot of pain but when I gave her some Darvocet she started acting funny. We are going to blame the medication for the fact that she can't remember some of what happened."

"What about her arm, it was horrible looking last night. And you said something about surgery?" I asked him, knowing it was important to get our lies straight.

"The breaks are pretty much healed, as well as her skin, most doctors will never be able to tell we did something." Phil reassured me.

The story was good, it explained how my car was gone and why we were at Phil's cabin. I guess they must have used some pretty strong powers to get her memory erased, one day he was going to explain to me how they did that but that conversation was pretty low on my current to do list.

"All right let's go," reluctantly pulling away from his embrace. It was a pleasant surprise that he did not want to let go of me completely, instead he held my hand as we walked through the woods. Phil's family was very physical in their displays of affection, I guess my figuring things out had given Phil the permission to start touching me. His behavior this morning was completely opposite from previous occasion - in retrospect I could now see that he had deliberately gone out of his way not to touch me.

His truck was parked a little outside the reservation, we ran through one of the less used hiking paths as Phil led us in a way that completely avoided Sam's patrols. Phil seemed pretty good at this, I think he had his GPS turned on because we did not get lost once. With both of us moving at faster than human speed it did not take us more than ten minutes to reach his truck.

He told me a little bit about where he had been all night, they had to take Jenny to the island for surgery to fix her broken arm without involving any hospitals which would have asked questions we did not want to answer. A family member had helped Carlisle operate to fix her break and the compartment syndrome, then they had healer her up before taking her to the cabin to sleep it off.

Phila was in the kitchen eating when we got to the cabin, Carlisle joined us and sat down on one of the stools next to Phila.

"She break is totally healed, as well as the surgical site. I am amazed that you can do it that well." Carlisle was telling Phila as we were coming in.

"It comes at a cost. But it is worth protecting the family secrets." Phila told him around a bite of what smelled really yummy.

"Ooh what is that?" I asked her. My meager breakfast of toast and jam had not really filled me up.

"Quiche, did you not get anything to eat yet?" She asked me around bites.

"I did but I can always eat again," I told her grabbing a plate and scooping out some gooey goodness out of the pan. I smelled cheese, eggs and some peppers. "Pass me the hot sauce."

I was in the middle of enjoying the flaky crust when Jenny wandered down looking a little confused. Not that I blamed her, waking up with altered memories was a little disconcerting.

We all jumped up at once, like we had not all heard her coming down the stairs. "Good morning how are you feeling?"

After some quick introductions Carlisle went through the story of what "happened", Jenny seemed to get even more confused for a little bit but then she came to accept the truth. It was hard to resist the sheer force of Carlisle assurances, even I was starting to believe him.

Phila offered Jenny some spare clothes and suggested a shower to 'clear the cobwebs from her head'. I went back to my breakfast trying to act as casual as possible, it seemed that Jenny could not remember the traumatic events of yesterday afternoon.

"She had bruises on her arms," I told Phil as soon as Jenny was escorted away by Phila who was offering to show her where she could take care of her needs.

"I know, she also had a slight crack on a rib, that was fixed as well." He told me with a dimpled smile. I might have gotten lost in that smile for a moment, it was still disconcerting staring into his green eyes. In the past I had become accustomed to his eyes being brown, not that I did not prefer this color; my problem was how easily I could get lost in his gaze. The back of my mind pointed out Phil did not seem to be in a hurry to look away either.

A loud clearing of the throat interrupted my daydreaming. I had forgotten about Carlisle, we both looked at him. I don't know about Phil but I was starting to get a little pissed at the constant interruption. Can a girl not stare at the man who had just the night before declared his eternal love, it might have only been in the language of flowers but still.

"If you don't mind I will head back home, Esme is doing something that requires some extra help." Carlisle told us with a knowing smile.

_Why could Carlisle who was obviously a normally very observant man not figure out that I wanted him gone?_ I thought ungraciously, I might be a little nicer under normal circumstances but I was still sleep deprived from last night.

"Yes of course, I will figure out the jump coordinates. Do you want to go to the new house?" Phil asked after a moment, I guess he had been distracted too. "Let us go to the attic, that way our activities will be less obvious."

Phil came back down a few minutes later, Jenny was showering still or at least so I assumed since the shower above me was still running. Phila had come down a few minutes ago but she had gone into the study and shut the door, I could hear her typing away at the computer.

Since I had nothing better to do I had helped myself to a second serving of quiche. The flaky crust was so yummy I am sure it required a pound of butter or something. It was a good thing I had a wolf metabolism or I would have become severely overweight eating Phil's cooking.

"Thanks for the second breakfast." I told Phil while I stood up to rinse my plate. "So did you guys find out anything else about those vampires?" I asked him quickly. Best ask these questions now, before I start considering how good he looked in those jeans, or how they hugged his small but tight ass._ Focus Leah, focus._

But it was just so damn hard. I had a million question for him, like where did we go from here? And how would I fit into his well organized life, and come to think of it, where would he fit into my hectic schedule? Was it boxers or briefs? I was going to go with briefs, boxers would not allow for such nice definition. His clothes had changed in a subtle sort of way since he had 'gone back to LA' last December, no more drug store jeans for him. These jeans were obviously designer and cut to really emphasize his amazing ass, Phil's seriously drool worthy ass.

"No, we did not find any trace of them." He told me after a moment, bringing me back to the harsh reality of my life. What was I going to do about a car, and what the heck was I going to do about a place to stay? After my encounter with the leeches there is no way I could take the danger back to the dorm, but at the same time I could not permanently move in with Phila. At some point I would have to start paying part of the rent and as nice as Phila's place was I could not afford to pay for it. I also needed something for transportation, damn vampires.

"Kendrick and Sassy will stay in the region, and try to track them down. Unfortunately they must have known about the wolves because they made a quick exit and covered their tracks really well." He drew in a frustrated breath and ran a hand through his shoulder length hair. I watched the move with hungry eyes. I tried to remember if his hair was as soft as it looked or if it was a little more coarse to the touch; I had been so distracted last Saturday by his all out assault that I had not been able to appreciate the details. Speaking of details, it was starting to make so much more sense as to why Phil had totally freaked out over the vision of my death.

"Phila and Jenny are going to drive back to Seattle in a little bit, if you wish you could join them." Phil continued speaking, drawing me back from my contemplation of his kiss. "So you can drive back with them to Seattle or you can stay with me and we can jump back in a few minutes. "

Given the choice of riding in a car for two hours or staying with Phil - did I mention we were going to be alone? It was a really tough decision and it took me all of two seconds to chose.

Finally we were alone, no family and no wolves that were going to come barging in. On the drive over I had used Phil's phone to text Seth to tell him where I was. He would let Jake and the pack know, at this point I did not give a shit about Sam, how dare Paul ask me to give up my school? Asshole.

"Are you ready?" Phil asked as we watched Phila and Jenny drive away. Jenny had given me strange look when I had opted to stay with Phil, but I noticed she had given Phil a once over. When she thought his back was turned she gave me a questioning look, I simply shrugged. I had no idea where this was going.

Jenny had given me two thumbs up in approval, I rolled my eyes. Yeah I had already figured out he was prime material.

"Where are we going?" I asked as soon as the car was out of sight. He had cleaned up the kitchen and turned out the lights indicating that we were not going to stay at the cabin for very much longer.

"It is a surprise," Phil told me with a small smile.

"You know at this point I really hate surprises." I had a few too many of them in the past couple of days.

"This one will be a pleasant one, I promise." He assured me as he pulled out his silver tablet to make his jump calculations.

I followed him though the bubble he had created. Holding my breath as that feeling of being pulled spread through my body I stepped into the wet grass in front of me. The jump was disconcerting when I knew where we were going, but now I was seriously confused. I did not see flags or the normal field where we usually end up when heading to the island. Instead we were in a small field, the trees were very similar to the ones found around the Rez.

"Where are we?" I asked him looking around curiously.

"Outside a small suburb, northeast of Seattle." I followed him through the shrubs to another field, this one was filled with neatly placed holes with potted plants next to them, waiting to be planted I guess. "I asked everyone to come in after lunch today so that I could show you the house."

I had been too busy looking at the plants around me to notice that there was actually a house here too. It was a large flat faced two story building with cream colored siding and huge white trimmed windows. There was a detached four door garage to the side, everything looked shiny and brand new. Peeking into the windows I could see no furniture inside, increasing my initial conclusion that this was a newly built house.

"Whose house is this?" I asked Phil as he led me up the steps to the front door.

"Mine," he told me with a smile. "Well technically it is Phila's as well, but that is not that relevant to the question you asked."

"But I thought Phila was renting her apartment." Why would she need two places to live in Seattle.

"Actually she owns that apartment, and she was going to rent it out and move in here now that this house is finished. It gives us more privacy, plus it is really close to the Cullen's place in case there is an emergency. Would you like to see inside?" He asked as he reached for the doorknob.

"Sure," I told him reluctantly, though what I really wanted to talk about was our future.

He opened the front door, it was not locked of course. I noticed there were bundled up sticks with thorns place next to the house. I guess they would be planting roses there.

The inside of the house was bare, with no furniture, no curtains, the wood floors were so shiny and new they were as reflective as mirrors. Phil gave me another house tour, we seemed to do this a lot; but it sounded like his family owned a great many houses.

As we entered the house there was a large staircase heading up. To the right of the entrance was the future dining room with a fireplace. Through archway past the dining room was the gigantic kitchen, some of the appliances were already here, but otherwise it too was bare. The back part of the house was a wall of windows, Phil had not decided what to do with this yet.

"Phila might put some of her aquariums here." Phil had explained as we walked across the long and narrow room. Phila liked to keep fish, which was understandable considering she was a marine biologist. The left part of the house was taken up with a large living room/study, with another large fireplace.

Upstairs we walked past a closed door and he showed me three bedroom suites. These were set up in the usual sitting room, bedroom, bathroom style that Phil's family favored. Everything was painted in neutral or cream colors with white trim, I might have been impressed with it had I not seen the cabin and Phil's house on the island.

I was getting bored with another tour or another house, I had seen it all before and I was getting frustrated in that he did not actually want to talk to me.

"Phil look, I think we need to talk about us. About what we are going to do?" I told him getting exasperated as he showed me the second set of bedrooms. "This place is not a home, it is just another house, a very nice house but just a building nonetheless."

"All right hold your horses." He told me with a small but nervous sounding laugh. He was leading me to the closed door.

"Great another bedroom suite." I mumbled under my breath.

He stopped in front of the door hesitating. "You have a choice to make and I am just giving you some options." He paused for a moment to make sure he got my attention. "You cannot stay in the dorms, Phila had mentioned that you don't really sleep well there. Also it would not be a very secure place, especially since there are still seven vampires running probably very desperate to get you back in their clutches. So you could either stay in Phila's old apartment which would put you closer to the college ..." He paused again to hesitate. I got the impression the next option was the one he wanted me to choose.

"Or..." I said as I watched him struggle, it would have been amusing had I any patience left. I wished he would just spit it out.

"Or you can come live here, with Phila and I." He said quickly, rushing through my last option.

I instantly blushed at the thought of sharing a bedroom with this man, my mind had no problem conjuring up all sorts of scenarios. Certain parts of my anatomy were almost instantly ready to rumble.

"Like move in with you?" I asked, my cheeks burning. Well this was a little quick, we went from friends to eternal love to moving in together in less than twenty four hours.

"Like live in the same house as me, you would have your own bedroom and everything." He explained quickly as he realized the assumption I had made.

"So this would be my room?" I asked him pointing to the door in front of us.

"If that is what you wish." He told me, reiterating the fact that it was all up to me. He was obviously hoping that I would take him up on the offer but I knew he would not stop me if I said no. I wondered how much of this was his need to protect me. As crazy as it sounded I did not want to be asked to live with him because my life was in danger, instead I wanted him to actually want me around.

"Do you want to see it?" He asked nervously.

I rolled my eyes, getting seriously annoyed at him. "What is there to see? Another neutral and cream colored empty room." I walked in front of him and threw the door open ready. My angry stride came to a grinding halt as I looked around me, the room was not cream colored nor was it empty. The walls were a pale green with the trim being a dark stained wood. The small couch and two side chairs that faced the built in bookshelves were covered in a matching green fabric. The bookshelves were also dark stained wood, at first I thought there might be something wrong with them. On closer inspection it became apparent that the shelves were not flawed but were carved so that they looked like the bark. They were supposed to be the trunks of the trees, and the ceiling was the canopy of the forest. The ceiling might have been originally painted a pale blue but someone had gone through and stenciled a plethora of leaves in green on top of the blue. I was completely blown away by the amount of details, this was not the let me slap a few decals of leaves on it. With my wolf vision I could easily tell that each leaf was unique and hand painted. Was that a small bird hiding behind a leaf?

I may have made a noise, I don't know, shock had frozen my body and mind. The contrast between this room and the rest of the house was startling.

As soon as I could move I hurried past the sitting room and headed into the bedroom; wanting to see if it would be filled with colors and furniture. This time I was not surprised, much.

The walls here were the pale blue of the ceiling of the living room, the dark wook trim continued in this room as well. The floors were wood but were almost completely covered by a thick rug, it was a pale blue with much varying sizes of circles in a darker blue. They gave me the impression of rain drops on a small pond. The ceiling was a deeper blue with small silver specs that I assumed were the stars. A fourposter bed occupied one wall of the room the large size would have overwhelmed a much smaller room. I threw myself across the bed, there was no way I would ever fall out of this behemoth. Someone, and I was starting to suspect it was Phil, had taken werewolf size into account. It was lying there on the bed that I finally noticed that the posts of the bed were also carved - flowers and ivy twined their way around as they grew up towards the ceiling.

"So what do you think?" Phil asked interrupting my inspection. "There are also some clothes in the closet. Aunt Katie heard what I was doing and insisted on adding her portion. I made sure they were somewhat practical for the area, so there should be some jeans and long sleeved shirts in there."

"Crap," I swore out loud mainly to myself, I wanted this room to be mine. Was it shallow of me that I was this easily persuaded by pretty things. It was not like I needed the extra incentive to move in with Phil, but this room really pushed it over the top.

"What is the matter?" Phil asked appearing next to the bed.

"How am I going to tell my mother I am moving in with some guy? That is not going to go well." I told him with a groan.

Phil laughed as he moved away from me. "You can explain that Phila is also staying with us, and that you have your own room." By the sound of his voice he had moved out into the sitting room.

"My mother is not going to see it that way, she is going to see me as being a little tramp, moving in with some guy I barely know." I reluctantly left the nice soft bed, my tired body protested the move. I went out to the sitting room where Phil was sitting on the small couch and threw myself down next to him, so maybe I was overdoing the drama a little. But I so did not want to have to explain this to my mother.

"Are you agreeing to move in here with me?" I could hear the hope in his voice. "I will cook for you." He offered, like I needed any more bribes.

I scrubbed my face with my hands, getting frustrated. I had wanted some time alone with Phil so that we could figure out our future together. Here he was offering to let me move in with him but he still had said nothing about us. "Let me think about this."

"Of course, I was not intending for you to make a decision immediately. You just seemed to have already come to a decision." The bastard was right of course, I had enough strife in my life that I wanted to take the easy path for once and just give in.

I lay there for a moment trying to gather up my thoughts after the curve ball he had just thrown. "Phil what are we going to do?" I stared up at the leaves above me, there was a small caterpillar munching on a leaf.

"What do you mean?" He asked me suddenly sounding concerned.

Jumping up I started pacing in front of him. "What about us? You just leave me a rose declaring your everlasting love and then what? Where do we go from here?" I could not seem to find the right way to ask him what I wanted. Hell I did not know what I wanted.

"Ahhhh" I heard heard him finally understand. "May I?" He was holding out his arms when I looked down to see what he meant. He wanted me to move into this arms.

So I might have thrown myself into his embrace, I was not playing it cool right now but I needed a little bit of peace and Phil had always been able to do that for me.

"So here is the way I see it, yes I am bound to you but that does not mean I cannot think for myself. When I first met you I have to admit I liked you because of what the spirit was showing me. But now I love you for ...well you." He said giving me an extra squeeze, just dropping the word love casually into the conversation. "As for what we are going to do now? We are going to coordinate schedules and find a day that we are both free. If by some miracle that actually happens I would like to go on a date, if tha is what you wish."

"So what, you will be my boyfriend now?" I asked, my voice muffled since I was burrowing into his shoulder. It was a comfy spot, and I was so tired still. I was pleased with the fact that he seemed to care about me as a person not just because fate had picked me out for him.

"I will be whatever you want me to be. If you want me to be your friend that is what I will be, if you want me to be your boyfriend I will start looking up which chick flicks have the highest ratings and most violence." He told me with a small laugh.

"I think what I want to do is get to know you, with no secrets between us." I told him, trying to see if there was anything else he had left out. Like why the heck he wanted to be around me. I tried again and this time I was a little more successful in vocalizing my thoughts.

"So you want to know why I put up with you? Despite the fact that you are as prickly as a hedgehog at times? I hate to tell you this but I can be just as prickly." I could hear the smile in his voice. "Wait till you see me not get my way, then we will have a showdown of bad tempers."

"So why did you not find anyone nicer?" I asked, blatantly fishing for compliments. But I also wanted to understand, how the hell was I going to hold the interest of a two thousand year old man. It was simply mind boggling.

He leaned back against the back of the couch, getting in a more comfortable position. I was getting a little worried, was it this hard to come up with a reason that he picked em over some non bitchy girl.

"I used to date a very nice girl while we were in med school together." I frowned and decided against asking him if she was pretty. "She was very, very nice and very agreeable. Any time a decision had to be made she let me have my way. That was nice at first but after a while it got annoying." I smiled secretly please, I liked the fact that she had bugged him. "Finally one day when I picked her up to go out to dinner I asked her where she wanted to go to eat. 'Wherever you want to go' was her answer. So I might have lost my temper and told her to make a fucking decision for once in her life."

"Seriously?" I could not help but laugh, Phil had never lost his temper with me. "So what did she do, smack you around for a bit?"

"No, of course not. She ran from the car crying her little heart out. I suspect that I was supposed to go and comfort her and apologize." Phil's voice was filled with disgust. I could not help but laugh at her reaction, what a little coward.

"Anyway she did not even have the guts to call to tell me she was breaking up with me, she had one of her friends do it." I could hear the contempt in his voice. I had to agree with him on that one. "My point is that you would not do that to me, if I lost my temper you would not run away crying, instead you would give as good as you got." Phil finished his explanation. "Smack me around for a bit," he repeated my earlier words with a smile.

"That is all you did was yell at her?" I started out hating this girl because she had dated Phil but now was pissed off at her for having so little spine. I could see how my physical strength and stubbornness would appeal to Phil.

"Yeah," he told me with a laugh. "But forget about her, do you want to go on a date with me?" He asked getting back to the point.

"Sure, I don't work this Sunday. But please no chick flicks." I said in a stern voice. "Shall we seal the deal with a kiss?" I tried to be casual about it.

"Sorry I don't kiss on a first date." He told me with a big dimpled smile.

"Sorry but I won't take no for an answer." I returned his smile with a mischievous one of my own. There was something to be said for wolf strength. It certainly came in handy when your boyfriend was being stubborn and not giving you what you wanted.

I was practically sitting in Phil's lap so it did not take much to turn my body to straddle him. It took minimal effort to pull Phil's lips down to mine and seal my mouth over his. His lips were firm but silky soft under my rough tongue, I pushed against the seam of his mouth demanding entrance. He did not comply immediately, pulling a soft growl out of my chest. I could feel his lips curling into a smile as he too showed my his stubborn side. One hand grabbed the back of my head and the other hand was on my hip, all of a sudden he flipped me where I was under him being pressed into the cushions of the couch. He opened his mouth over mine but he would not let my tongue invade his mouth, instead he pushed his own inside my mouth licking the sensitive insides. I was not going to be pushed around so we battled it out for a few minutes, both of us trying to gain dominance as we explored each other's mouths. He tasted of mind toothpaste but underneath I could recognize his unique taste - we had only kissed like this once before but I could easily recognize the distinct taste of Phil. All of my fantasies last Fall were nothing compared to the real deal, nothing could have prepared me for Phil. There was an added sweetness to his kiss this time around, the desperation of last Saturday was gone. He lifted his head far sooner than I would have wished, and moved his hard body away from mine.

"You are so demanding." He told me with a frustrated laugh.

"What I am is horny," I whined, as he sat up and moved away from me. "Hey come back here, I am not done with you." We had reached and I wanted to go further.

"We are done for the day." Phil told me seriously. "We need to slow down some."

"But I want sex." I told him honestly. "And you are the one I want to get lucky with." I had wanted it all week and these kisses were just making me want it more.

I heard Phil's long sigh before he joined me back on the couch. He picked me up like I weighed next to nothing, and place me back on his lap. He looked me in the eye, "Leah are you sure this is what you want?"

"Well I don't want to force you," I replied stubbornly, I felt like a complete pervert trying to seduce him. "At this point I feel like I might have to resort to rape."

As close as I was to him I could hear the rumblings of his laugh starting deep in his chest. "You know what they say, you can't rape the willing." He told me as he pulled me a little closer to him, I could see how this was not going to be rape. Phil was very, very willing.

I expected him to start in again with where we had left off but instead he kissed the side of my mouth. He then proceeded to place small kisses along my jawline all the way to my ear.

I was completely unprepared for when he reached my ear and delicately traced the outline of my ear with his tongue. I never realized that my ears were such an erogenous zone, but as horny as I was at this point any body part being licked would do it for me.

He moved back to the other corner of my mouth and continued with his teasing feathery light kisses, this time moving to my right ear. I anticipated the outlining of my ear with his tongue but then he surprised me by sucking my earlobe into his mouth. I could not help myself, I pushed my body forward and tried to rub myself against the hard ridge in his jeans.

"Shhhh, slow down," he whispered after he let go of my earlobe. "We have hours Princess." Yeah well if he kept up this sensory overload I would not last for hours, I did not think I would last for even five minutes.

He did not give me a chance to reply but instead blazed a new trail of kissed this time down my throat. The small bite on my neck was not painful, in fact it made me ache even more. My entire body reacted to that small nip, goosebumps erupted across my skin. My nipple becoming hard points beneath my shirt, the light cotton material was bothering me a great deal.

It was like Phil was reading my mind because very soon he was slowly lifting my shirt and exposing my breasts to the cool air in the room. After making an approving rumbly sound he leaned down and kissed the outer curve of one of my small breasts. I started to squirm with discomfort and self-consciousness as it finally dawned on me that Phil was staring at my breasts. Phil instantly raised his head at the first sign that I was no longer enjoying his ministrations.

"What is wrong?" He asked in an unsteady voice.

"Umm well it is just my breasts, you must see really nice ones all the time..." I started trying to explain.

"Leah..." He interrupted. "I am male, that means I only have one criteria for beautiful breasts."

"What is that?" I asked looking down at myself, Phil still had not let go of them, and was cupping them both while rubbing his thumbs on the bottoms curves. It was making me want to squirm some more against him, especially since his thumb was just barely avoiding the hard little peaks.

"You let me play with them and they are the most beautiful breasts in the entire world. Now can I get back to my admiration?" He asked leaning down again to the spot where he had been kissing before I had interrupted him.

"Ummm, no go ahead." I told him not quite knowing what I was agreeing to, but how was I supposed to think with his thumbs getting closer and closer to my now aching nipples.

He spent a great deal of time on my breasts, kissing, licking, and even biting every part of the right one and then repeating on the other side. I completely lost my shirt somehow and had been moved to lie underneath him again on the couch but I don't quite remember moving from Phil's lap to underneath him.

It was when his kisses reached the waistband of my shorts that my thoughts came rushing back. Surely he was not going to kiss me there? I had never had that done to me, and I wondered what I was supposed to do while he did that. What if he did not like it? What if I did not like it?

"Stop it," Phil told me biting a hip bone. "Whatever it is you are thinking, I need you to stop."

"Well what are you trying to do?" I asked suddenly really nervous.

Phil looked up at me and rolled his eyes. He moved back up my body and plunged his tongue into my mouth without warning. My nervousness was forgotten as I pulled myself up and rubbed my naked chest against his fully clothed body. I was going to have to do something to rectify this problem very soon. But that though was lost as Phil plundered my mouth yet again.

I was in a happy glow of his kiss before I noticed that he had moved back down and was busily unbuttoning my jeans. "Lift your hips." He ordered as he pulled down my shorts and underwear in one swoop.

He did not give me the time to start thinking again, instead he put his hands under me and pulled me up to his face. The one long lick across my lips had me using every curse word I knew. Had I been afraid I would not like him going down on me? He nuzzled me for a moment before he did it again. This time it was not his hands that were pulling me up to meet his face but my hips moving, without conscious thought on my part.

I was on the brink after only a few licks but the bastard moved away and licked the seam of my thighs instead. I made noise of complaint, I was more than ready for this torture to end. Phil seemed to understand my plight because he moved back to the lips and gave them some very nice and very long licks as well as a few more bites.

"Seriously what is with the biting. Are you a leech or something?" This was completely overwhelming to me so my regular defense system had kicked in - yup, sarcasm was always a handy tool.

This was when I figured out what it felt like to have a man laughing when he is right next to you. Puffs of air hit the very sensitive skin of my very sensitive girl bits - seriously I had never realized I was such a prude not even being able to call it the right word in my mind. Instead of replying to my snarky comment he bit the sensitive inside of my thigh before heading back to my center. My mind decided to take a serious hike, all my thoughts of being nervous flew out the window as Phil went back to licking me like he had never tasted anything this good before.

The tension was building in my body, I had never felt it this strong before. My back was completely arched, my hands were beside me trying to hold onto something or anything as I felt myself being pushed to the edge. It had been a long time since I had been with another man but it had never felt this good then, and I had not even come yet. Phil knew what he was doing, and he continued to torture me pushing me towards the edge but then backing away a little when I was almost there. Finally he seemed to take pity on me and decided to give me some relief, he took the small hard nub of my clitoris in his mouth and sucked hard. I might have screamed a little or a lot but I was not exactly coherent as pulses of heat and pleasure ran through my body. My body was finally capable of relaxing, and that is what I did - melted into a pool of goo across the small couch.

I felt Phil gather my naked body up in his arms, his clothes were rubbing roughly against my still sensitive skin but I did not care at this point. He was rubbing my back with his long graceful fingers, trying to soothe me.

It took me a few minutes to realize that Phil had not done anything for himself. Guilt hit me with my own selfish behavior, "here let me...do something." I started to reach for him, rubbing my hands down his chest and moving them closer to his waist. So it was not completely altruistic on my part, I wanted to see and touch him too. But he quickly brushed my hands away.

"As much as I would like to do that, we can't right now." He told me with exasperation filling his voice.

"Yes we can." I replied, despite my insane orgasm I was more than willing to continue. I wanted to try for orgasm number two.

"That is it, for our first date we are going to a deserted island." He told me as he started reaching for my clothes.

"And why is that?" I asked him thoroughly confused.

"Because both my parents are currently at the door, getting ready to knock." He told me with a smile. "So are you ready to meet them?"

* * *

A/N: All right what did you guys think, I am such a prude. I really was blushing when writing this.

Connect2tjb: Yay another chapter down, did you like the sort of lemon?

Leaa'Clearwaterr: Wow I am impressed that you read it that fast, I tend to get pretty wordy. Here is the next chapter I hope you enjoyed. The doctor will of course be back, because fate is not done screwing with Leah.

Ms animegoddess: Oh I am sorry about allergies, that must really suck. I remember just trying to keep my kids away from nuts when they were babies, that was nothing compared to trying to do it all your life. Is that Seth's Sassy, you need to trust my insanity - I assure you I have a plan.

ABarbieStory: Glad you liked how clever Leah was in the last chapter, I really got pissed off at the fact that SM's Bella just constantly was the damsel in distress and needed to be rescued - but I guess she was good at getting hurt. insert eyeroll here. Why did the family not know what he was up to? I am guessing the vamps were trying to dodge the wolves and so inadvertently managed to be not seen by the family. You can bet your behind the family will be looking for them now. By the way, I am putting this chapter up in the middle of the morning, hopefully you will be awake and well rested.

Jamie2772: Yay she figured it our, and there was a little lemon just for you. :D

By the way, thanks everyone for putting me on story alert. I like to know that I am not just writing this simply for my own entertainment.


	27. Decisions

26- Decisions

"This is starting to be some sort of sick joke." I told Phil with disgust filling my voice as he stood and moved away from me. What I really wanted to tell him is just ignore his parents and continue what we were doing.

"You are telling me this?" He asked me with a self deprecating laugh. I looked down at his crotch, the bulge in his jeans was telling me he was still ready to go. I felt a little guilty for being the only one that had an orgasm. Phil's jeans seriously protruded out, I needed to get him naked soon; not that I could claim a great deal of experience but from what was evident right in front of my eyes Phil would be worth .

Apparently Phil was not so pleased with my perusal. "Stop looking at it like that," Phil scolded me causing my face to burst into flame.

"Well it is kind of at eye level, what am I supposed to be staring at?" I asked him sighing as I got up and pulled my pants on, not bothering with the underwear. I really was starting to get annoyed with all the interruptions, despite the fact that I had one orgasm it did not mean that I was done for the day.

By the time my shirt was pulled over my head Phil had his phone out. "It is getting close to noon, if you want we can go grab something to eat."

"Crap I have to go to work this afternoon." How had I forgotten the time, oh yeah I was playing with Phil. _Well more like he was playing with you._ I could see myself losing track of time a lot if we kept this up, and I was certain of Phil's ability to keep it up. All those long lean muscles would definitely equate to great deal of stamina.

I got distracted as he turned away from me and started towards the door. He really had a nice tight rear, the kind you just wanted to take a bite out of. Much to my disappointment he untucked his shirt and blocked my view of the denim clad ass. But I guess he had other things to cover up as well, like the very happy little Phil in the front of his pants.

"If you want to start getting ready for work I will go and entertain my parents. The bathroom should be stocked with everything you could possible need." Phil told me over his shoulder as he headed out of the room. I heard another light knock on the front door, this time it sounded a little more insistent.

I was not going to say no to a small reprieve from meeting his parents. I mean god only knows how old they were considering they had a two thousand year old son. This was probably not a good time to remember an earlier conversation with Phil, the one pertaining to his mother having a sniper rifle and shooting anyone he would bring home. I really hope she left her guns at home today, knowing Phil's family she could easily take out a werewolf.

I found the bathroom stocked with all the necessities. During our tour Phil told me that the movers were bringing his furniture from LA in the next couple of days, but I assumed my rooms had all new things so someone had not bothered waiting for the movers. He had not come out and said it outright but I was willing to be it had been Phil who had done all this, the carvings on the wood had the save level of detail that the vases he carved at his home. Phil's attention to detail could be both flattering and overwhelming at times. The fact that he had been aware that I valued my grandmother's necklace had been easily noticed by him, but then he had gone out of his way and spend who knows how much time gathering all the pieces and putting them back together again. He had put together all those college applications together for me, and had gone out of his way to decorate this room. Between the natural colors, and the intricate carving of the wood it really reminded me of the forest and home. I had missed the easy escape that came with living on the reservation. Looking out the window I was going to guess that we were out in one of the suburbs of Seattle, one of the further ones if the lack of traffic noises were any indication. The solitude of the trees called to me, tempting me with the possibility of gaining a few hours of solitude to gather my thoughts. Checking out the window, I contemplated how easy it would be to slip outside and disappear into the forest until my mind could catch up with all the new revelations. Unfortunately I could not do that to Phil, there way no way I could embarrass the man put a great deal of time into ensuring my happiness and success by vanishing.

"How could you have been so blind?" I asked myself yet again. Actions speak louder than words and Phil had been telling me he loved me probably from the very beginning. Looking back at his behavior now with the understanding that he cared made me realize I had misunderstood most of what he had done. The one time he had spoken of the woman he loved he had claimed to have told her of his love but she had been to distracted to listen - in reality I had been in a too dark place in my head to actually hear him say it.

His need to know everything about my tribe had not been just general curiosity, he had been trying to get to know my past and my traditions. Everything he had done to encourage me to go to college was in part due to the fact that he valued education but it was also because it was what I wanted to do. He listened when I wanted him to and had not pushed when I was not ready to answer questions. He smoothed things over with my mother when I had my little breakdown and even threw in a decoy to distract her.

His need to know about my family made so much more sense after I interacted with his family members; Phil and his reasoning were becoming so much more clear because I had seen him interact with his family. First and foremost came, they always were in the number one spot. That did not mean he was not annoyed by them, like today for example but that was just amongst themselves. In general if you fucked with one of the family member you had better bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. When Phil needed them his family was there without question, how else could he have rallied his family yesterday to come find me? They had immediately gone into action when Seth had gone missing last week, no questions asked just solutions given.

As messed up as this world was it was good to know I had Phil and his family to watch my pack's back. Not that I needed a prince charming to rescue me every time, but it was good to know if things go overwhelming they would be there to help out. I felt kind of selfish knowing that they were giving us protection while we really did not contribute much. "You had better get started on the shower." I told myself, I could not put off meeting his parents forever - though it was a tempting thought.

The shower took longer than usual, but I would bet money no one would be quick to leave this shower. The bathroom was of family caliber with a massive bathtub and an equally large shower with six different shower heads - you practically had to be trained in order to operate the thing. I might have been avoiding going to meet Phil's parents, I mean what would they think of me. How could I possibly meet their expectations? I was a freshman in college compared to their freaking doctor of a son. I had the binding thing going for me, that seemed pretty unique but that did not alleviate al of my insecurities. Maybe they would be wondering what the heck the spirit thing was thinking when it picked me. With my luck it would tell Phil you know what I goofed up, this girl is not the one you are supposed to bind to.

Instead of going down to meet Phil's parents I enjoyed the water hitting me from three different directions while I soaped up every little portion of my body. I had noticed the family was really big into hygiene and always had the most awesome bathrooms I had ever seen in my life. Phila's apartment may only have two bedrooms but it had two full bathrooms. In the cabin, each bedroom had its own bathroom with showers and a separate bathtub.

But I guess not needing that much sleep, they probably spent more time in the bathroom than the bedroom.

After my shower I grabbed a towel and quickly made my way across the sitting room to the bedroom closet. Aunt Katie had really outdone herself, this closet was almost a complete replica of the one on the island in terms of number of clothes. I had asked Phil about that once, the fact that clothes appeared in my closet without me having to go out and buy them. Phil had mentioned that Aunt Katie used shopping as therapy and it was just best to let her have her way or she would go psycho. She was also the woman you went to if you needed an outfit for a specific planet. Who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth, I needed clothes since being a wolf tended to be hard on your wardrobe, and from the impression I had the family was not hurting for money.

I found some underwear in the back of the walk-in closet. Someone had gone out of their way to up the sexy quota, they were all essentially the same style, tiny lacy scraps of fabric in various colors. I picked up a white one and held it up for inspection; this thing could hardly cover the palm of my hand let alone my rear. After a moment of consideration I thought of what Phil's reaction would be if he saw me wearing these.

"I think he would definitely like these." I told myself smiling while pulling them on. I totally scored when I found a matching lacy camisole, as small as I was in the breast department I could get away with no bra. Not that Phil seemed to complain about my breast size, in fact he had been quite enamored with my breasts and had spent a great deal of time admiring them.

I quickly located a pair of black slacks and a white shirt, this was pretty much the standard uniform at my job. I could see several high heels, but I had to dig around to find a pair of flats. As short as Aunt Katie was she needed the heels, I did not have that problem; there was also the small fact that being on heels for hours on end while running orders back and forth from the kitchen was torture. Not that I did not enjoy wearing heels sometimes, it would be fun to dress up and go out with Phil - it was also nice that Phil was tall enough that I would not have to worry about wearing too high heels and hurting his manly ego.

The past two days had been hell on my hair, between the constant shifting and the salt water - and the fact that I had been too lazy to properly brush it out. I might have naturally straight hair but it did not mean that I could not resemble a scarecrow. Someone had been considerate enough to stock my bathroom with heavy duty de-tangler, but even that was not enough - I finally broke down and blow dried my hair straight. I wanted to look my best, especially since I was as nervous as a whore in church. What am I supposed to say to my boyfriend's older than dirt's parents? Come to think of it I did not even know if he was my boyfriend or not.

Finally running out of excuses to delay the meeting, I reluctantly headed downstairs. I followed to sound of quiet voices coming from the first floor. I could not understand a word of it, the language was one I had not heard before - it sounded guttural and harsh. It would have sounded like they were arguing if it was not for the fact that they were speaking softly.

I walked past the future dining room to find Phil and his parents standing around the empty kitchen.

I would have recognized his mother as family even if I had not known who she was. The resemblance between her and Blossom was almost uncanny. She had long dark brown hair that was pinned elaborately to her head, it looked as if it would fall gracefully around her shoulders with just a simple touch but I was willing to be that her coiffure could probably withstand hurricane strength winds. Heaving a small sigh of relief I was glad for having taken the extra time to do my hair.

Her pale green eyes were the exact same color as Phil's, and I could see that they had very similar strong, square jawlines. Her charcoal grey slacks and deep purple suede jacket were understated but elegantly cut. He ramrod straight posture making me think that she might have been a ballerina in a past life. Suddenly I felt like the lowly servant next to the lady of the manor.

She quickly ruined the image by smiling and showing me the dimples her son inherited from her. "Oooh, so you must be Leah," Phil's mother told me before she suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of me. I was immediately wrapped up in a flowery scented hug, gardenia and lilac if I had to guess. "It is so nice to finally meet you."

"Mother you are scaring her." Phil told her while I enjoyed a bone crushing squeeze. Wow she certainly was strong.

"Of course I am not scaring her, she is not weak." Phil's mother replied with a dismissive snort. But luckily for me she eased up on her "hug".

"Leah these are my parents, Tamora and Ailen." Phil made the introductions. I murmured my greetings. Tamora smiled down at me, I could see the intelligence and the humor in her eyes; another thing Phil had inherited. _Wait a minute, I have to look up to her?_

After my growth spurt last spring I was taller than every woman and most men that I met. It was kind of disconcerting to be considered almost average height when I interacted with members of the family. As it was I had to look up a little bit to meet Tamora's eye; but it might have helped that she was sporting some insane heels.

"You can call me Tam, everyone does." Phil's mother told me with a wide smile. Was this not the woman who preferred shooting people that had the misfortune of being brought home by her son? I gave Phil a questioning look, he gave me a brief shrug.

Ailen, Phil's father, was a great deal more quiet and reserved, he made no move to come over to embrace me. He gave me a thorough perusal from across the room. I was kind of glad for the distance, he looked like he could be very scary.

I could not see any resemblance between Phil and his father. The man was built like a linebacker, I swear his muscles seemed to have muscles. While Phil had the longer leaner muscled look, his father was pure bulk. But then I recalled that first night on the island when I met Myles, Phil's younger brother. Phil had obviously taken after his mother's side of the family while his brother resembled their father. Though both boys had the green eyes of their mother, somehow it was dominant over the dark brown eyes of their father. That seemed a little bit strange, from what I could remember about genetics and eye color brown should have been dominant.

"Is anyone else hungry?" Tam asked with one arm still wrapped around my shoulders. I was not complaining that much, Tam had not freaked out about Phil and me.

"There is no food the house as of yet, and obviously very little by way of furniture. We will have to go out to eat, but first I need to use the bathroom." Phil explained as he went around the corner.

"Phil, your father told me he wanted to drive." Tam spoke quickly before Phil was out of hearing range, making some strange gestures at her husband.

For a moment Phil's father was confused but the light quickly turned on. I was willing to bet Ailen had only now learned that he wanted to be the one to do the driving.

"If we want to eat anytime soon we don't want Phil trying to find the place. He gets lost so easily." Tam told me with a playful wink.

"Oh it is all right, I think he turned on his GPS this morning, we did not get lost even once." I explained, quickly understanding her meaning. Poor Phil, I should be defending him from being the family joke regarding to his ability to navigate. Unfortunately for him I found it somewhat refreshing that he was not totally perfect, it was good to know he messed up sometimes.

"There you go father," Phil said tossing a set of keys to his father as he returned a few minutes later.

The garage was empty save for a white four door mercedes, I recalled seeing this parked in the cabin garage next to the truck last Fall. Though I had never seen Phil drive it before, I had assumed it was the actual owner's car and had not even considered that Phil might own it.

Phil held the door for me before walking around and joining me in the back seat. I was surprised how easily Phil's father was able to get in the car. I know some of the wolves had a hard time with having enough leg and shoulder room sitting in the smaller cars; there was something to be said for luxury vehicles, the back seat was very large and comfortable too.

As we drove into Seattle, Tam spent the entire time questioning me about my future plans, my family, my classes and my hobbies. It was done in a good natured way but I still felt like this was an FBI interrogation. Phil spent most of the time alternating between fending off some of Tam's more personal questions and holding my hand. I don't know if he meant it as a comforting gesture but he kept rubbing his thumb gently over my wrist; on one hand it felt really good, but unfortunately it felt too good. I never realized my wrist was an erogenous zone. Under normal circumstance I would be enjoying the caress except for the fact that his parents were in the front seat, and there was a high possibility that at least one of them could read minds.

"I don't really have that much downtime these days between school and work but back when I had some time my hobby was making jewelry." I answered what seemed like an endless stream of questions, trying to pull my hand away from Phil without looking obvious. I tried glaring at him but if his smile was any indication the bastard knew exactly what he was doing.

Tam turned around in her seat looking a little bit less than impressed, her mouth open to make some comment. "It is a family tradition, she even has one made by her great-grandmother." Phil interrupted before his mother could say anything. Tam's frown disappeared as soon Phil pointed out that making the traditional necklaces had been something my father had taught me to do. Phil's family really valued skills that involved history, maybe it had something to do with their age.

It was a great relief when we got to the restaurant, Phil's father picked a Thai place - it looked a little bit like a hole in the wall but those tended to be the best tasting ones.

The interior looked a lot nicer than the outside, even though someone had gone a little overboard with the Buddha and this waving cat theme.

"It is a Maneki Neko," Phil explained as I looked at yet another waving cat. "It is considered the lucky or welcoming cat. It brings in luck and customers."

"Maybe a little better paint job on the outside would help with that," I muttered under my breath. The woman seating us did not hear me, but if Tam's sudden laugh was any indication she had heard my rude comment. I seriously had to remember that I was around people with good hearing, my usual sarcastic commentary would have to be heavily censored. It would not do to make a comment about Phil's edible looking ass and have his parents overhear me.

The hostess took our drink orders before going through the usual spiel about the specials.

"Phila had said good things about this place," Tam pointed out as we got comfortable in the small and well worn booth. Phil and I sat on one side while his parents sat across from us, it was a little bit of a tight fit with everyone being so tall. Not that I was complaining but my initial impression of Tam was that she would have preferred a much more upscale place.

The waitress finally brought our waters and everyone but me ordered the extra hot version of their meal. I ordered the hot, it was better to look like a wimp than not be able to eat my food.

The waitress wasted some time trying to convince them not to get the extra hot.

"Trust me, hot sauce is like mother's milk to them." I finally interrupted wanting her to get on with it so that we could get our food.

Ailen laughed at my comment, it was a pleasantly low rumble. "I guess Phil has been cooking for you."

"Yes and it is a good thing that he can cook because I can burn water. Though he is determined to teach me." I explained with a laugh.

Much to my relief Tam finally ran out of questions so we actually started to have a conversation instead of the interrogation. We talked about books, music and movies; it was not surprising that both of Phil's parents were well versed in most topics we covered. Ailen started to bring up some politics but both Tam and Phil quickly told him to stop.

"You really don't want to start him on politics." Phil explained with an indulgent smile at his father.

"So I get a little excited," Ailen told me with a bashful smile.

"Yeah you get excited and break things." His wife told us with a laugh.

"One time, just one freaking time I was emphasizing my point with my hands and I broke a table in half. Now I hear about it every time I even consider mentioning politics." Ailen told me with a shrug, I could not blame him for that one since sometimes the werewolf strength could be more of a hinderance that not.

I made a mental note not to do anything stupid around a family member, from the looks of it I would never live it down.

We lingered over lunch, ordering another round of food. I had tried some of Phil's plate and found that while the extra hot burned a little bit it was not intolerable. Our waitress had learned the first time and did not make one sound of protest when we ordered the extra spicy.

When we finally finished our meal it was getting close to three, I had to get to work. Surprisingly once the interrogation was over I began to relax around Phil's parents, Tam had been telling me embarrassing childhood stories about Phil.

"So there I was changing his diaper asking him when he would learn to go to the potty like a big boy. Do you know what he told me?" Tam asked with a small chuckle.

"No," I snickered a little knowing this was going to be good. It was especially humorous since Phil had not stopped rolling his eyes since she started.

"Mommy, I am never going to be potty trained and you will have to change my diaper forever." She finished her story with a loud laugh. I could not help but join in, he must have been pretty old to be able to come up with such a long sentence.

Phil's father joined in the laugher, he was the more subdued of Phil's parents. He was not completely silent but there was no way he keep up with his wife. It had taken me a little time but I noticed he could be amusing; his humor tended to be a little more dry and subtle.

The more I listened to him, the more I realized Phil was not completely like his mother. The ability to sit back and observe was from his father, Tam seemed incapable of observing since she had to be in the middle of the fray. She was much more confrontational in a discussion, but you could always see her coming at you. While Phil and his father would sit back and bide their time.

Phil walked me to the back entrance of work, while his parents waited in the car for him.

"Have a good evening," he told me with a soft kiss on the lips. I was a little disappointed with the innocence of the kiss, but it was not like he could kiss me the way I wanted to with his parents watching. Again I dreamed of a moment when we could be alone without an audience.

I went inside with a goofy grin on my face, some of my coworkers gave me a funny look but no one asked.

Work was busy as usual, keeping my mind occupied with my customers I did not have too much time to reflect on meeting Phil's parents. This was all in all a good thing, I did not want to think back on all the things I should not have said. On a happy note not one of them had outright come out and told me that I was a loser and should leave their son alone - that counted for something.

* * *

It was Phila who picked me up that night, she had a new phone for me.

"Try not to lose this one," she told me as she handed it over. She drove me to her apartment in near silence, even the radio was turned off. After the chatterbox that was Phil's mother and the noisy time at work it was nice to have a little quiet.

I needed some time to come to grips with everything that had happened in the past few days. I would have to decide if wanted to move in with Phil, he had meant it when he told me it was my choice. The moving in with Phil well it seemed a little bit sudden for my comfort, I had only figured out he liked me yesterday. _Shit had it been only yesterday, it felt like it had been weeks ago._

In terms of my physical safety moving in with Phil would be a safer option, I am sure that there were some pretty strong safety measures in place at the house. Plus I would be around Phila and Phil, there was safety in numbers. But there was more to consider here than just my physical safety, was I emotionally and mentally ready to move in with Phil?

We took the stairs, the elevator in the building was as slow as molasses, Phila continued to be silent maybe she noticed my utter absorbance with my own thoughts. Blossom was no longer at the apartment, I guess she had gone home now that Phila was back.

"I have to go join Phil, he is determined to hunt these guys down. We are going to go in a wider circle around the Rez. You should be safe here; if anything happens Aurora should be able to shut this place down, and nothing will be able to get in." Phila told me as she pulled out her silver tablet to calculate her jump coordinates. "I am headed back to the cabin for now and might be staying there for the next couple of days, if you need to leave the apartment just take my car. Please for the sake of Phil's sanity warn us if you are headed out of Seattle."

After she disappeared I wandered over to the fridge to find something to eat. If someone asked me later I could not have been able to tell them what I ate - suddenly the past few days finally caught up with me and I was completely mentally and physically exhausted. Between the attack yesterday, the lack of sleep, and trying to figure out what I was going to do about Phil, my head was spinning. I stripped down and without bothering to put on any pajamas I stumbled exhausted into bed. I instantly fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

I don't know when I woke up but all of a sudden I felt something moving above me. I would have gone into full panic mode but he quickly noticed I was almost awake.

"Shh I did not mean to wake you up, I was just checking on you." I heard Phil whisper in his deep voice. "We are back for a little bit. Go back to sleep Princess." I may have felt his lips touch my forehead softly but I could not be sure.

By the time I woke up the next morning, there was a note waiting for me next to my bed.

_ We left early this morning to go search for your friends. Will spend most of afternoon trying to deal with movers since they will finally get here. If you need anything call._

_Love Phil._

_PS The car keys are in the drawer next to the fridge if you need to go anywhere just take Phila's Volvo._

I had nothing better to do, so I spent the morning cleaning the apartment and doing some laundry. It might not be my place but I probably had spent more time here this week than Phila.

It was driving me insane that while everyone else ran around in the woods trying to locate the group of vampires that had kidnapped me and Jenny I was stuck in this apartment.

I was tempted to ask to go join them, but if I were to meet one of Sam's pack it would be hard to explain what I was doing near the Rez when I was supposed to be several hours drive away in Seattle. So I stayed in Phila's apartment and did boring mundane things like laundry. I really could have used this time to catch up on my studying but since all my teachers had decided to have tests last week we really did not have any new materials.

It was in the middle of moving wet clothes to the dryer that my phone rang. I ran across the living room, jumped over the couch to make it to the bedroom where I had left the phone. "Hello." I said in a breathless voice.

"Hi Leah, this is Jenny. Did you get back to Seattle all right? Sorry I have not called, I had to replace my cell phone." I heard a perky voice.

I was severely disappointed, not that I did not want to talk to Jenny but it was not her voice I wanted to hear. It became apparent that the initial question about my well being was small talk.

"So who is this guy you stayed with yesterday?" She asked me straight away, I could hear the curiosity in her voice. "And why have I not heard about him, I thought we were friends." There was a pout at the end of that sentence, I could see it even over the phone.

"I told you about Phil," I replied defensively, at least I was pretty sure I told her about him.

"Nope I would have remembered had you mentioned a hot guy that you knew." She accused me again.

"Yes I did tell you about him. I told you he helped me by proofreading my essays." I remember having that conversation last week.

"No you said grandpa did that, I specifically remember you mentioning your grandfather." She told me in an accusing tone.

"Phil is grandpa, I call him that as a joke." I explained, she had no grounds for accusations I had not been holding out on her.

"Well he certainly is not old enough to be a grandpa." Jenny pointed out.

I might have giggled a little, if she only knew how old he really was.

"Regardless of all that, so are you two dating?" She continued, I would have almost preferred Tam's questions to Jenny's. At least with Tam I did not have to worry about trying to remember to hide all my secrets.

"I don't know if we are dating..." I started to explain slowly but Jenny interrupted me.

"How can you not know if you are dating?" I don't know if it was curiosity or her being a good friend, but Jenny seemed determined to figure out what was going on between Phil and I.

"Well it is complicated." I had not yet figured out my place in Phil's life. From the hints I had gotten from his family and Phil this had the potential of being a forever thing. "First and foremost Phil is a very supportive friend who got me through some hard times. Now the way things look we might be more than friends but we are just starting to explore that."

All of a sudden I remembered how much exploring Phil had actually done with his tongue. I was in the middle of a recalling a very good memory when I heard Jenny call my name.

"What was that? Sorry I did not hear you." I told her. She started to laugh and tease me about my new boyfriend.

"No seriously, he is a good family friend. I hang out with his cousins and that sort of thing." I tried to downplay it, even though I had just admitted that we could be more serious. Jenny attempted talk me into going out with her tonight but I told her I had to work. It would have been nice to get a second perspective on Phil and me, a girls perspective would have been nice. I could talk to Phila but she had been friends with Phil forever and I did not think she could be impartial. Sadly the only girls that I could talk to regarding Phil were his family members, not even my mother could know the full extent of Phil's binding.

After hanging up on Jenny I called my mother to tell her that I was safely back in Seattle and that I got a replacement phone. She reprimanded me for not calling her earlier, I used the excuse that I had not replaced my phone until now. For some reason I did not mention Phil, or possibly moving in with him. So I was a complete coward. I quickly hung up feeling guilty for keeping secrets from my mother, but if I was going to date Phil I would have to learn to keep his secrets as well as mine.

Sassy came back to the apartment in the early afternoon, she smelled of salt air and pine sap. It was strange for a moment I had a hard time recognizing who she was. When I told her this jokingly she nodded and explained.

"It is a glamour, I don't want people to remember my face right now, so I let out a glamour that makes it hard for you to notice details about me." She waved her hands around her face a little in trying to explain.

"Paranoid much?" I asked only half joking.

"No it is not paranoia, it is something else completely." She corrected me, but she did not elaborate. I wondered why she was so particular about people remembering her face, Kendrick and Phila did not do the glamour thing.

It was Sassy that drove me to work, not that I would have ever admitted it out loud but she was very intimidating. She reminded me of my mother; her sharp eyes saw everything and she had this air of authority and age . She was one of Phil's cousins so I did not think she was that much older than her, maybe it was her character that made her appear to be in total control. Her driving style was minimalistic, she stayed perfectly within the speed limit and followed all traffic laws while she crossed town. I almost laughed as I remembered Seth complaining that he had received a lecture by letter when he had run off into the woods. I could see this woman being able to write a very intimidating lecture.

She seemed to radiate power, even though we were both wearing slacks and a button up shirt she seemed to carry it off with much more grace and gravity than I could ever hope for.

It was Friday night at work so it was more busy than the day before. This did not bother me, lots of customers meant more tips as well as job security. During my break I had less than ten minutes to grab something to eat before I had to get back to work again. One of the cooks had put some pasta and red sauce on a plate for me, I was busy trying to slurp it down as quickly as possible without getting any on my shirt when one of the busboys stopped by to chat.

"Hey where is your car? I did not see if out there." He asked after he put his heavy tub filled with dirty dishes down next to the dishwasher.

"It died on me on Wednesday, I guess I should not have driven it home to see my mom." I told him the partial truth, I was getting better at this.

Of course nothing can go right in my life, because just when I was telling my story about my car troubles Mr. Peters walked by.

"Leah what is this about your car not working? How are you getting to work?" As a small business owner he could not afford an unreliable worker.

"No, I have a ride, I just don't always get to drive it." I quickly reassured him. He had taken a big chance on hiring me when I had no waitressing experience. I really appreciated him for doing that, plus this was good money.

I was really tired after my shift, I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. We had run late because some customers were determined to linger over their dinner. When I got outside Phil was leaning against his car.

"You have been gone," I whispered tiredly into his shoulder as he hugged me. I wrapped my arms around me and squeezed him as hard as I could.

"Um Leah, that kind of hurts." He told me with a laugh.

I quickly let go and apologized but realized he had been teasing me. He might be a little more fragile than I was but he was still stronger than the average human. I narrowed my eyes at him and punched him lightly on the shoulder, it would not be a good plan to break him - I had other plans for his body.

Phil opened the door for me and helped me get in before he walked around the car. Loud music blared out of the speakers when he turned on the car.

"Wow you listening to techno now?" I asked him over the music. He quickly moved to turn it down.

"Sorry about that, I was trying to stay awake, I have not exactly been getting much sleep the past few days." He told me as he pulled the car away from the curb.

I looked over to Phil quickly checking to see if he was alright, I might have been able to detect some darker circles underneath is eyes. But it might have been a trick of the low light in the car.

Staring at his strong profile I suddenly realized this was the first time we had been alone since yesterday afternoon on the couch.

I don't know why this hit me all of a sudden, while away from him all my free thoughts had revolved around figuring out if I wanted to stay with this man. But now sitting here quietly next to him I became uncertain, did he really want me? Or was it only this binding thing? I was knew I had some good qualities but that had not stopped Sam from leaving me. The insecurities that I had learned after my last relationship ended returned full force.

I mean I knew that he was attracted to me at least physically. The playtime on the couch had showed me that at least. The feeling was mutual in that regard, after first seeing him I had dismissed him as not being handsome but having a nice body. After getting to know him I kind of had started to realize how much I had come to like his unique face. While picking up the apartment I might have spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about him. I was kind of obsessed with seeing him naked, as much as I had imagined it I could not help but want to see the real thing. So maybe I wanted a little more than just to see it, maybe some touching would be involved too. But first and foremost I would have to figure out where we were going from here. I would not make the same mistake as I had with Sam, we would discuss what plans he had for the future. We would need to decide on living arrangements as well as what our mis

Yesterday had pretty much shown me that what I had done with Sam was practically nothing, I was no longer a virgin but now after just a few minutes of Phil I had come to realize the difference between Phil and Sam. Being with Phil was not even in the same category as Sam. Our hurried groping in the middle of the afternoon while we worried that his mother would come home and catch us could not be compared to what had happened between Phil and me.

I have to admit in retrospect my reasons for starting to have sex with Sam were not the most logical. It had been a combination of curiosity and peer pressure. Not that Sam had come out and said it outright, but it was not a big leap to know that a teenage boy was interested in that. I had thought I loved him so I had done it for the two of us.

So after many days of some pretty serious exploring, we did the deed. To say I was somewhat disappointed was an understatement, for a while I was afraid I did something wrong. But eventually we got the hang of it, not that there were every any fireworks or anything like that, it was pleasant and a way I could show him how much I loved him.

It had almost been better that Sam and I had been two virgins together trying to figure it out, with Phil I was totally outclassed. He had centuries of practice, and from what Blossom had implied he had not been a monk.

"You have been awfully quiet." He told me interrupting my thoughts. I looked out the window and finally took note of my surrounding, we should have be at the apartment by now.

"Where are we going? Are you lost again?" I asked, too tired to be diplomatic.

"No I am not lost, we are going to the house. There is more room there for everyone that will be coming and going while we figure out where those vampires that took you are." He explained as he wove through traffic.

"Great, more family to interrupt." I said sarcastically.

"What do you anticipate them interrupting?" Phil asked in an innocent voice.

I blushed, realizing yet again how out of my depth I was. "I did not mean ... I just thought."

"Stop, please. I did not mean to tease." He took one hand off the steering wheel and found one of mine, I watched as his long fingers entwined with mine. "I want to apologize for yesterday, I went too quickly and too far."

What did he mean by that? Did he not want me like that? Was he just being nice to me?

"I have spent the past thousand years dreaming of what I would do should I find you. It is kind of hard to resist putting some of my plans into action." He continued in a calm voice, rubbing the inside of my wrist. I looked up to see him turn to flash me a wry smile.

"You have been dreaming of me?" I asked him shocked.

"Not in the literal sense. More like what you represented since I did not know what you looked like. Only recently have I actually included you specifically in the plans. In very detailed plans I might add." Was it just me or did his voice sound extra rumbly as he spoke of his plans for me.

"Phil can you tell me about you? And I don't mean the person you present to the world, I mean the real you. Where are we going with this?" I needed him to let his walls down and let me in. I got the impression that this binding thing was forever but I needed to know his intentions. It was time for me to man up and get some answers.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that this took so long, freaking family reunion from hell combined with a sick child does not make it easy to write.

A BarbieStory: Sorry about posting this late in the day, hopefully you are still well rested. So what did you think about his parents? Not so scary were they? We will meet Tam again in a few chapters and she will be more forthcoming when her son is not around. :D

Ash186: See meeting the parents was not that bad, no major hiccups. Next chapter I promise Phil will give more answers.

Jaimie2772: Glad you approved of the slight lemon. It took me a while to write that, not really my cup of tea - I just like reading the lemons, writing them is a pain in the rear. (I know, I know: if sex is a pain in the ass you are doing it wrong.)

Leaa'clearwaterr: I too tend to consume stories if I get into them, which kind of sucks when you stay up late reading and your kid is up and ready breakfast at 7:30.

Twilighter: Congrats on the man of your dreams, doctor huh?

Ms animegoddess: Well did you like Phil's mom? I will tell you a secret it was Tamora who told her mother Bee that Leah would not be needing a BOB. :D Allergies can suck but they also can be very serious, when I worked at the clinics we saw a lot of asthma (a lot of kids have it but fortunately they outgrow it). We would try to emphasize to parents that while asthma might sound like a little bit of wheezing it can actually kill a child if left untreated.


	28. Phil

27 - Phil

Phil drove through the dark streets, the light drizzle gave everything outside the car a hazy quality making me feel like there was no one else but the two of us in the world. Even the streetlights could not seem to penetrate the gloom, they were little more than little yellow fuzzy balls of light. Phil was going at his usual speed down one of the major roads, the only way I could tell he was speeding was the rate at which we passed the other cars. He was silent for what felt like eternity after I asked my question making me worry that he was going to withdraw again - only the fact that he had not pulled his hand away from where his fingers lay entwined with mine gave me hope that he might share something of himself. He had a neutral look on his face as he concentrated on the road. "Has anyone told you about how we fulfill our guardian duties?" Phil asked suddenly breaking the silence.

"No, not really." I said quietly, wondering if he was finally going to be more forthcoming about himself.

"I don't think it is officially a rule but if possible all of us are born on the island, we have the proper facilities and doctors to handle even the most problematic pregnancies." He started talking without pause this time, the speed with which he spoke gave the the impression that he just wanted to get it out and over with. "The genetic modifications make it so that we have a hard time reproducing, our bodies are strong and if the baby is not almost perfectly compatible it is rejected by the woman's body. This is one of the consequences of our alterations, lots of miscarriages and pregnancies straight from hell. We are talking morning, day and night sickness for the entire pregnancy."

I tried not to think too much about what he was telling me, that would come later - sometime soon I would find a way to work through all of my thoughts, but right now I was just gathering intel.

"At birth we do not have our full powers, we have the weakened version of some of them. For us it is just like talking and walking, something you have to learn and practice in order to get better at it. I know humans don't often have clear memories of their early years but I have very vivid ones, from when I was about two or so I can remember everything. We were raised together on the island, all the children of my generation. After we reach our first birthday we are put in a time sink of sort while the family waits for everyone of that generation to finish having children. This is the family's way of ensuring our strong familial bond to each other. Since it can take us centuries to have children keeping us all in a time sink is the only way to raise us together."

At this point I could not help but let out a little laugh, "so do you remember telling your mom that she would change your diapers forever?"

Phil laughed along with me, "actually there is a perfectly good reason why I told her that. When I was little I absolutely loved to run around naked, clothes were too much of a hassle. I think it was my Uncle Sol, he is Kendrick's father if you really need to know, that warned me that if I did not have clothes on a bird would fly by and eat my boy bits."

Hearing Phil say the words 'boy bits' made it impossible to keep silent, my laughter was so loud that Phil could not continue with his explanation.

"Are you done now?" Phil finally asked me when I calmed down a little, his tone dry and not amused.

"Oh come on Phil, you said boy bits." I wiped some of the tears from my eyes, seriously I had not laughed this hard in god only knows how long. I could just picture a little Phil running around naked as the day he was born with his little parts flopping around in the wind. I hope that did not make me a pedophile or something along those lines, I just thought it would be cute to see. Maybe Tamora would have some pictures, if I had kids those sort of photos would be taken and saved for potential blackmail later on.

"Here I am revealing my extremely traumatic childhood memories, and you are laughing about it. The possibility of losing your junk is not a laughing matter, how was I supposed to sit on a potty and let it all hang out? What if a fish swam up and though it was a worm or something. It was much safer to go for the diaper option. It was not until I figured out that boys could pee standing up that I was willing to finally potty train." His smile gave away the fact that he was not really upset with me, and I was very glad because I could not hang out with a guy that did not have a sense of humor.

"As we reach the age of five we are sent off to live among the humans until we are around twenty. We are 'let out' so to speak in order to learn how to blend in, and to appreciate how much different we are from the normal humans. Sometimes we get sent to planets that have a higher percentage of 'altered' humans; but even then we have to blend in and hide our true natures. Only on the island do we get to be ourselves and don't have to watch every action and word. Often while the humans that inhabit other planets may have some modification they are not up to our caliber in terms of quality of genetic enhancement. Most were altered to see what would happen if you tweaked various genes and were merely for observational reasons. My grandmother was altered to see how far you could push the human mind, they figured out the hard way that we get some really nifty powers. She used those powers to escape and decimate several of their labs. Regardless of all that we are trained to integrate with humans, and all the while we are expected to pursue our education. It sounds a lot more complicated than it sounds, mostly we just learn anything and everything we can. It is best to know the fundamentals of most disciplines, for example we learn the basics of linguistics in order to pick up languages faster."

Now that he mentioned this I could recall Jasper Cullen saying something about Phil's ability to blend, he had said that either Phil was human or he was much better at blending in than the Cullen family - too bad for Jasper he had gone with the human option. Only now could I appreciate how well Phil actually faked being human, but it came down to the fact that he had been trained to do this from birth.

"Of course, the family motto. Knowledge is power." I interrupted, my tired mind realized too late that it might stop his story. But I need not have worried, he continued after a brief smile in my direction. I was glad it was only a brief glance considering how fast he was driving through the dark streets.

"Our full powers come in sometime before our twenty fifth birthday, when we start feeling the change we go back to the island. It was worse for me because I have the spirit, our visions kick in at full strength. When we are young we get flashes of strange colors or maybe a picture or two but when it really start working the visions can be all consuming - they usually only visual, but when they get strong enough you can smell, taste and feel what is going on. There were moments when I thought that I was going insane, luckily my mother had gone through the same experience and could guide me through the worst parts. Being able to tell the difference between reality and a vision is an acquired skill, Phila was very handy to have around because if she saw it then it must be real. You have no idea how hard it is to function when you can't remember if you actually had a conversation with a person or if it was just a vision. I learned to push back at the visions and not really pay attention to them, that way I could still act normal while having visions. Of course it is not perfect, I tend to lose my train of thought or appear to gaze off into space, but at least I don't usually completely freeze up. There are consequences to pushing the visions to the back of my mind, the headaches of course and then the loss of sight. At one point my visions became so frequent I had to learn to live without the ability to see."

I tried not to make any noise, not wanting to stop his disclosure but at the same time I partially did not want to hear this story. As long as I had known Phil he always was ready to smile, sometimes without reason. He was the well to do doctor, the charming friend, the happy tourist traipsing through the woods, the sexy guy on the bike. I did not want to know that his life was not always perfect, the fact that he had to struggle to get where he is. As selfish as it sounded if he had to fight this hard, what would that mean for me in terms of my wolf skills? Would there be consequences if I tried to stop phasing and tried to repress my wolf nature?

"We stay on the island for a few centuries depending on how long it takes for us to control our powers." He continued in a quiet voice.

This time I could not help but interrupt. "Centuries?"

"Yes centuries, you do other things than just learn to contain your powers. We usually start building our house and enjoy being ourselves for once. The most important and dangerous part of the training is learning how to jump. Mistakes can be fatal when jumping, so being able to do it precisely is tantamount to our ability to function as a guardian." His voice had become casual, detached almost - I wondered what he was leaving out.

"After gaining enough control to be able to safely jump we become apprentices and get assigned an older set of partners. We fulfill all our duties under their supervision until it is deemed that we are capable of handling things on our own. All in, it usually takes somewhere between four and five hundred years. I used to think it was overkill but I have seen what happens if the rules are changed." His voice had a great deal of regret in it, again I got the impression that this was only the tip of the iceberg.

"What does happen if you get sent out too early on your own?" It was like a car wreck, you really did not want see it but you could not seem to look away. I wanted to know what horrible ways they died if they messed up - and from Phil's tone of voice I knew it was not pretty what occurred when a poorly trained member of the family was sent out to do a job. Yeah I was a sick little girl for wanting to know details.

"Obviously if you don't jump right you can end up inside of a mountain or under water, that of course is instant death. The other problem is when young guardians don't understand the rules, we have a great deal of power and at times it can get to your heard. If severe mistakes are made, a partner team is sent to hunt the person down. There are very few rules in this family and only one punishment." He paused for a moment hesitating. But he did not need to explain, I already knew the answer. Death.

"What are the rules?" This was one thing I definitely wanted to get right. From my understanding one day I might be expected to fully join this family and I wanted to know all the rules. At least so I assumed from this whole binding thing.

"Pretty much do not expose yourself and if you do clean up your mess." That sounded reasonable. "But that will not earn you death, someone older will just come in and pick up after you. The only thing that will earn you death is killing a member of the family."

"Has that happened?" I asked in the lowest of whispers. For a moment I did not think he had heard me.

"It is very rare, we grow up with the knowledge that we must protect our family at all cost. Anyone we take into the family must learn this as well, that was part of the reason that the elders of my family chose to allow the Cullen family and your pack to think that they were going to have to face the Volturi alone - you had to learn the importance of sticking together no matter what."

"A little hint would have been nice, December was a seriously fucked up month for me," I growled at him, unfortunately I could understand his reasoning. I now knew who my allies were and who would have my back; I also had learned the hard way that I was willing to sacrifice my life to fulfill my duty - the offer my mother made had been tempting but I had known the right path to take.

"We had an incident when one of the trainees did not fully learn his lesson of the importance of family." His voice was only slightly louder than the slow purr of the engine of the car.

All right rule number one, do not under any circumstances kill another member of the family. Though seriously you would have to be retarded not to figure that one out, you just have to interact with them for five minutes to realize how important family was to them.

"So what happened after you finished with your final training?" I asked wanting to change the topic, I wanted to get back to Phil. If we were going to be dating it would behove me to learn as much as possible about him. Dating, ugh, that sounded so plebeian. I was currently using all of my stubbornness to push the fact that I had not imprinted on him to the back of my mind - for once my pig headedness payed off, and I was able to concentrate on Phil.

"When we finish we are assigned a territory. It usually consists of a portion of land in a particular slot of time. We keep an eye on the area, and subdue any overt super-human activity. Most incidents go unchecked unless it becomes very obvious that the person is abnormal. Very rarely do we intervene, usually only if one of the experiments gets too powerful and is abusing the humans. Sometimes entire planets will be populated by nothing but alien experiments, we still spend most of our time keeping the weird stuff down to a minimum. Genetics is a funny thing sometimes out of these weak experiment something powerful emerges and starts wreaking havoc, the god complex is not that unusual to see. Person realizes they have powers they come to believe the gods gave them said powers, and then they proceed to use those powers against those around them." He explained with a bored tone, 'been there done that' is what he was telling me. Not that I could not completely relate, some of the leeches had the same problem - humans were nothing more than cattle to them, a food source.

"You kill people?" I asked quietly even though I already knew the answer to his question. Had he not just told me that he did?

"Usually we try to neutralize them in a more subtle way, but if they don't listen we will kill them. They are always warned about what will happen if they continue down their chosen path. They get a choice." He continued in a neural tone, I got the impression it was more important to let an experiment make a decision than it was to try to save some human's life.

"But if they don't do as you demand you kill them?" I asked again, pushing my point home, making him admit that he kills people.

"Imagine if Paul had phased first, now what if there was no tribe to give him a purpose or set rules. What would he have done?" He explained, I still could not detect any emotion.

I understood the point he was trying to make though, not that I saw Paul as being evil. He was not deliberately mean just foolish, but I was able to picture him abusing his power very quickly. "So do some people start acting right with just warning?"

"Yes often they do, since we try to threaten them in the way that best suits their personality. To continue my example with Paul we would just rough him up a little since he seems to understand physical power the best, he would more than likely get a little more cautious since there is something stronger than him out there. Most often our threats are more subtle. But yes if Paul had gone down that path of violence and continued to do so despite a warning the current guardians would kill him."

"So where was your first assignment?" Now that he had admitted killing people I wanted to forget. It seemed hard to reconcile this happy man with a murderer, but then I would have to be put in the same category. I had killed vampires, even though we liked to pretend they were already dead it was still killing. We did it for the greater good, soI could see how Phil could justify taking a life. Unlike Phil, we had not given those newborns a warning.

"Phila and I were sent to a very small colony. In terms of technology it is about two or three hundred years ahead of earth with some reverse engineered alien technology. It was a relatively easy assignment, we did not need to do much - most of the time we mingled with the natives. It was really fun for a while, party at night, and work during the day; keep a very intoxicated eye on the populace. But then it started to get a little frustrating, we never actually got to do anything. Over five hundred years of freaking training and we got to do absolutely nothing."

Maybe it was because I was so tired, but I could not reconcile the Phil I knew with the one he was describing. First of all he did not seem to be the party type, it was impossible to picture him as some keg drinking frat boy. Despite the fact that he had no sense of direction Phil was the type of guy that needed to be outside traipsing through the woods and fighting mother nature head on. It was inconceivable to reconcile this image he was painting of himself with the Phil I knew - my Phil was certain of his place in the world, he was content to the point where just being around him made you feel a little more sure that things were going to be all right.

"Then the boredom slowly transformed into bitterness." He stopped talking for a second, going back I don't know how many centuries in his memories. "Do you know what is the hardest part about being a guardian?"

"I don't know," I told him honestly after a moment of silence, he had paused almost as if he expected an answer.

"Not doing anything at all. We have all this power, but most of the time we do not use it. Instead we force ourselves to sit back and watch, pretending to be nothing more than an ordinary human. That is what we did on this planet, just watched. We watched as people killed each other, it was not our place to intervene since the way they killed had nothing to do with their modified genes; it was just one human killing another. Free will and all that. We are not allowed to intervene when two humans make foolish decisions - we have to let them live with the consequences. We are not guardian angels. We are just around to knock people down if they get too powerful, kind of to level out the playing field."

I could most certainly comprehend the frustration of having all these powers and yet not being able to do anything with them. "Free will?" I asked confused.

"As guardians that is what we are really supposed to protect, we don't protect lives as much as we make sure people retain the ability to choose. We do not help you make the decision either, we just make sure you have a choice."

"I do not understand, why would you not give people advice?" It would be nice to get advice, hell at this point I would love for someone to help me out.

"If I were to give you advice and you took it one of two things would happen. You would fail or you would succeed. If you failed you would blame me for the mistakes and would not be able to learn from the experience. If you succeeded you would give me the credit instead of focusing on the fact that you were the one that accomplished your goal." In a convoluted way that made sense, if it is your decision you are responsible for what happens - I seem to recall Phila telling me something along these lines as well. We were turning off the highway now, getting closer to the house. This conversation would soon end but I did not want it to, for the first time I was getting to know the real Phil instead of the mask he presented to the world.

"Someone from the family noticed my attitude, though granted it was not a giant leap of intuition, most people in my family go through it at some level or another. So we were reassigned to a different territory. This one was much more primitive and required a great deal more hands on care. I could not stand back and watch, I had to get my tools and be out with them in the field before dawn if we were going to grow enough food to survive the winter. It was a good move, I learned to appreciate the smaller things - like having enough food to eat." He laughed a little bit, his shoulders loosening up slightly. Only now did I notice how tense he had been. I could see the need for Phil to get his hands dirty, he always was poking those long dexterous fingers at all sorts of things.

"Another thing that can get to you is the constant need to hide your true capabilities from the people around you. It became apparent that constantly lying to people was a very hard thing to do, you had to remember the lies as well as the truth. It is really hard to be friends with someone when all you do is lie to them. Half truths on the other hand are much nicer, and it becomes easier to stomach telling partial truths than having to constantly lie. After a while you become tired with lying, it might have taken me a while but I finally learned to be satisfied with telling friends and neighbors half-truths. They might not know me fully but I would let them see glimpses.

"It took me a few centuries but I finally found a balance, I figure out that helping people did not always mean putting on my guardian mantle. I could do it while playing human; this alleviated some of the guilt for just sitting back and not saving the world." His laugh was self-directed, he found it amusing that with all his powers it was his human ones that allowed him to make a true difference.

Though I for one was glad for his alien powers, I would have died a while back had he actually been a human.

"We left that primitive place behind several assignments ago. Phila was overjoyed at leaving it behind, she hates going to the ancient places. The women of those times tend to be second class citizens. Though I think the biggest issue was she hated having dirt under her nails. I kind of miss the place and do occasionally go back and hang out with its current guardians."

I could not help but laugh, at the same time I completely could sympathize with Phila. Being a wolf was hard on the nails as well. QVC was not going to be knocking at my door to ask me to be their newest hand model.

I watched as Phil pulled into the garage, there were now two other cars parked inside. Phila's volvo and a Land Rover I had not seen before, the large tires had really deep grooves making me think that it could be driven off the pavement.

"Kendrick's car, he staying at this house right now. But he will be splitting his time between this house and the cabin for the next little bit. We still have not found those vamps." Phil told me before I could even ask. It was nice that he was answering my questions before I had even asked them. For a moment I was suspicious that he was reading my mind, but I trusted him when he had said his family tried not to do this. Anyway, it was an easy enough jump to see the questions in my eyes as I stared at the other two cars.

We headed inside, the house was no longer empty. It contained a combination of some of Phila's things as well as other pieces of furniture I did not recognize. I was going to guess this was Phil's stuff from LA. The large overstuffed leather sofas seemed to be his style. As was the well stocked kitchen that we walked though; Phil really liked his kitchen gadgets, but I was not going to complain considering I was the recipient of the food made using those things.

"So what are you doing tomorrow?" Phil asked me as we walked upstairs. It was amazing how much difference a few pieces of furniture could make in a place. The previous echoing sounds indicating the emptiness were gone, not that this was a home by any means. It had the same impersonal feel of the cabin, there were no pictures of people to indicate who actually lived here. Even the art on the wall was completely abstract, nothing but a few lines on stark white canvases. This was totally different from Phil's house on the island which seemed stuffed to the gills with... well stuff.

"No plans for tomorrow. I don't have to work and school stuff is done for now." I finally answered his question.

"Do you want to go look for a car?" He asked quietly.

I considered my meager savings account and calculated out how much I would need to buy a car. "I don't know if I can afford to buy a car right now." But I needed a vehicle so that I was not constantly being driven around like a child. Soon everyone would have to start work as well and what would happen if no one was available to drive me.

"We can just go look, to see what is available." He spoke quickly as he noticed my hesitation as we walked up the stairs together.

My decision regarding my living arrangements would have to be made quickly. The problem was that I had a choice between getting my own apartment or getting a new car - there was no way I could afford both. Living with Phil seemed to be the best choice, I would have my own set of rooms. I did not think that I could afford to rent a place without a roommate to share the bills, that would mean a human who could not know my secrets. In this house there would be no need to watch myself twenty four seven to make sure that I did not do something 'non-human'; around these people being abnormal was considered the norm. If I continued to work for Mr Peters it would not be too hard to make enough money to pay for a car and the few expenses I had.

The only huge obstacle was my mother, I cringed at the though of telling her I was moving in with Phil. I might be able to use the excuse that I had my own room, but that would not be enough for her.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I almost missed the light kiss on the lips as Phil murmured "goodnight" after leaving me at my door.

He was walking down the stair by the time I realized I was not going to get anything else form him tonight. Maybe he had not been exaggerating when he said we had gone too far, he really was going to back away. I put it away for later analysis, as I went to shower and headed to bed. I could hear Phil and his family talking downstairs but it sounded really muffled, they must have some serious soundproofing to accomplish that.

* * *

My Saturday was spent car shopping, some people might enjoy the experience but I sure as hell did not. Phil had decided to call in reinforcements, and so when I woke up and finally wandered down the stairs I was met with the sight of Aunt Jazz' smiling face.

"Morning darling," she told me in a slow southern drawl. I had previously noted that her accent came and went. I was willing to bet most of the time she exaggerated it slightly, just to mess with people's heads.

Before I could even mumble hi she whipped out with a list of places she had planed on visiting to look for a car, she was disappointed that I had overslept. She had been ready to go hours ago. Phil was able to delay our immediate departure by mentioning the fact that I had not eaten anything yet.

"Why could I not have gone with you?" I whispered at Phil furiously when Aunt Jazz had left the kitchen to go talk to her son Kendrick while I ate something.

"I am a plastic surgeon. I can tell you whether a situation calls for absorbable or non-absorbable suture but I don't know jack about cars; especially used cars." Phil told me in a reasonable voice. "Be grateful I did not ask Rosalie as well, supposedly she is really good with cars."

I did not comment but just glared at him around a forkful of food, I was not going to waste my time arguing with him especially since my breakfast was absolutely divine.

It was well into the afternoon before we found what I was looking for, a used BMW that I loved; it was a bit larger than my VW which meant not as fuel efficient but it was not as bad as I had initially feared.

It was the paying for it bit where things got really bad, Phil and I finally agreed to a compromise. Phil wanted to pay for it, but I would not let him do so; I wanted the car to be mine and not anyone else's. Since it looked like I was more than likely going to be living with him I wanted something that I paid for. He made the argument that it was foolish of me to pay the high interest rates since I had no credit to speak of.

It was Aunt Jazz who finally suggested the solution we were both willing to live with. Phil payed for my car outright but I would pay him back slowly.

"Have Josefine draw you up a contract, that way you can get it on paper." She had added with a smile.

The paperwork to buy the car took forever, sadly I did not get to drive it off the lot. Aunt Jazz was going to take it home and do some maintenance on it, from the glint in her eyes when she told me this I was pretty sure she was going to do something illegal or add some alien technology to it - probably a little of both. She promised to have it available to me early the next morning.

Phil invited me to go out and have dinner with him, so that is what we did. It was over dinner that I brought up the topic of what binding to me actually meant to him. I did not feel it had been explained to me well enough, especially with this spirit thing involved.

"My spirit started showing me glimpses of you a while back, it might not have been big on details but you were there nonetheless. It was nice to consider that I would get to meet someone who I could be completely honest with, someone who would know the whole me and not just glimpses or shadows of what I really was. I started trying to imagine what you were like, but in all my years of wondering I have never come even close to the reality."

"Yeah I am sure messed up bitter bitch with paws was not what you were dreaming of." I told him with a shaky laugh, seriously how could I ever live up to his expectations?

"I have to admit at first I was a little surprised. I could not understand how someone so young could be so bitter, it took me a while to work out what had happened. You were pissed because you had lost hope and someone else had taken over your dream. I realized you were headed down a similar path as I had, feeling like you were no longer a participant in the world. Everyone else got to live but you just got to stand outside and watch."

It was uncanny how well he described my feelings over the summer, I had been pissed that everyone else around me got the happy ending except for me.

"Since I could not send you back in time to the place that made me feel better without having to answer a lot of hard questions, I took you into the woods. So you would see how cool the world around you was, plus it helped that we were not around people." Phil continued with his explanation. I was amazed that he thought we might actually have something in common. "You really were not the mood to mingle with people back then."

Things were starting to make more sense now. "So when do I get to be as freakishly happy as you?"

"I cannot make you happy Leah, only you can make that choice." He was very serious for moment but soon followed this with a smile. "One of your options is to choose to be happy with me."

"Very subtle hint there Phil." I could not help but laugh, though he was right. I was in charge of my own happiness, but it helped that I had a friend like Phil by my side.

We in the middle of considering what to have for dessert when my phone rang, for a moment I contemplated what would happen if I did not answer.

"Your mother," Phil told me, stupid freaking psychic. Why did he have to tell me my future? This is something he could have kept to himself.

I gave him a little half hearted glared before heaving a large sigh. I started to dig through my purse trying to locate the thing, seriously for something that did not get used all that often my purse was completely filled with junk.

"That is not really encouraging me to try that hard to find this thing." I told him as I fished my phone out.

Phil did not look bothered by my statement and even managed to laugh at I pushed the button to answer.

"Leah have you considered calling your mother? Don't you think I was worried, especially with what is running around in the woods?" My mother began without any prompting.

"Hi mom," I interrupted, though I may as well have saved my breath.

"You just let me sit here alone without a word about how you are? or what you are doing" She continued as if I had not said anything.

I knew this was going to be one of those conversations. If you have a mother you know what this "conversation" consists of, pretty much you listen and they talk. If you are foolish enough to defend yourself you will only make it last longer.

It was in the middle of the of her lecture that our waiter came to see what our dessert order was. I made some gestures at Phil, now was the time for him to be a mind reader so that he would know I wanted the bread pudding, well I wanted the cheesecake too, but I did not want to look like a total pig. This was kind of our first date anyway. _Leah I hate to break it to you but he already knows you are a food whore. _I chose to ignore that voice, it did not know what it was talking about.

"We will take an order of each of your desserts," Phil explained to the waiter. "Anything we don't eat we will just take home," he told me with a wink.

"I love you." I whispered at him after covering the mouthpiece of the phone. I was such a food slut, maybe Phil was right - I would follow anyone that was willing to feed me.

"I can make cheesecake from scratch, it requires two pounds of cream cheese." He told me quietly as my mother droned on, the waiter had disappeared to put in our order. I was only half paying attention to her, but it was hard to do with Phil sitting across the table giving me his full dimpled smile.

For a moment I considered proposing marriage, I mean he did say cheesecake made with two pounds of cream cheese. If a girl who could not cook met a guy that was not only able but willing to do kitchen duty, well it was best for her to make sure he would stick around for a while. - and if she had to put a ring on it, well so be it.

Suddenly a loud voice interrupted my pondering of wether or not Phil would say yes if I presented him with a ring from a Cracker Jack box. "Have you been listening to me?"

"Of course..." I told my mother, then I repeated her last sentence. I had learned that trick from my father.

"You should go see her tomorrow, show her your new car." Phil told me in a really quiet voice.

I considered his suggestion for a moment, it would be the nice thing to do. Last time I was there she had been freaking out over the fact that I had just been kidnapped and I had disappeared again when Phil showed up without properly saying goodbye. It would be good to sit down with her and maybe I could bring up meeting Phil again; it would be good to butter her up first before dropping the bomb of 'hey mom, I am moving in with Phil'. That conversation might have to wait until another day, preferably when I was far away from her.

"Mom, would you mind if I came up there again tomorrow, I had to come back to Seattle for work but I have tomorrow off." I asked her suddenly making a decision.

For a moment I heard the excitement in my mother's voice but then she remembered the vampires. "Is it safe?"

"I will call the boys to see if they would meet me before I get too close to the Rez. I don't think they will mess with a car full of wolves." I told her while watching Phil pointing at himself. I guess he meant he was coming with me as well, I was wondering if it was going to be in the boyfriend or babysitter capacity.

I was surprised, my mother was so worried about my safety she had forgotten the fact that I lost my car. She had not brought it up so I was not going to do so either, I was going to put this explanation off for as long as I could.

"And you can get fitted for your bridesmaid dress, the wedding is only a few months away and Emily has put a great deal of effort into planning it." My mother added, I tried my best not to make gagging sounds.

"Oh goodie," I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Now Leah, you know she is family." My mother started with her usual lecture.

"I will be there, that does not mean I will be dancing for joy." I sure hope I was not expected to do that because I could tell them now they would be vastly disappointed.

"Good, it is not too late. I can call Emily to tell her you are coming. She will be so excite." She was already making plans for my day. After asking her to talk to Emily and set up the fitting appointment I quickly wished her goodnight.

Dessert arrived almost right after I hung up with my mother. We got five plates of yummy goodness. It was a hard choice but I picked the bread pudding first. I grabbed the plate and pulled it in front of me.

Phil leaned back to watch me without picking his dessert out of the pile. I wondered if it would be wrong to stake a claim on the cheesecake as well.

I was halfway through the bread pudding before I remembered my manners. "Would you like to try some?" I asked begrudgingly.

"Hmmm, I think I like my arm attached so I will pass on your not so kind offer for now." He told me after a moment of consideration. I always knew he was smart. I continued to wolf down my food, the pun was intended, the gooey bread, caramel and raisins were delectable.

"You know we can probably ask for another one." Phil said as I considered licking the plate clean. I noticed he had not touched any of the desserts yet.

"Why are you not eating?" I asked him feeling a little self conscious.

"I was going to let you pick first." Phil told me with a smile.

"I already picked," I retorted, pointing with my spoon to the now empty plate in front of me.

"And take second pick too?" He continued to watch me. I was not going to say no and quickly slid the cheesecake plate in front of me. At first I had thought the red sauce they had covered it with was strawberry, but it turned out to be raspberry. The tartness of the fruit really went well with the creaminess of the cheesecake.

"What is that?" I asked pointing to one of the plates with what looked like a layered white cake.

"I believe that is the lemon cake," Phil told me and laughed when I made a funny face. "I take it I can have this one?"

"Yeah go ahead." I generously offered. Who would want bland lemon cake when you can get creamy goodness. Again I thanked whatever alien had given me my wolf metabolism, it was the only perk of this gig.

As we drove home Phil offered to drive me near to the border of the wolf territory, so long as I called my pack to meet me there. I agreed to his terms, since I did not want a repeat of Wednesday's events.

We made the same route as the night before, pulling up into the garage. This time the Range Rover was gone, in its place was a sleek looking Lexus. After safely putting my one remaining dessert in the fridge, chocolate cake in case you are wondering, we headed up the stairs. Just like last night Phil walked me to the door of my room. I got a sense of deja vu as Phil tried to give me the same measly little peck he had given me the night before. We were having none of that bland crap, we had gone on an official real life date together and now I wanted a real goodnight kiss.

As he lowered his head slowly in my direction I narrowed my eyes after glancing down at his arm, they were casually held against his side. Holy shit he really was not going to kiss me the right way. Getting pissed, I decided to take things into my own hand. As he came closer to me I grabbed the back of his head with one hand and his ass with the other. I think I threw him a little off balance as I pulled him down towards me. I plastered both my mouth and body against his but he was being stubborn, and would not open up. Running my tongue across the seam of his mouth to encourage him to let me in did not work either.

"Knock knock," I pulled back and looked him in the eye. Was he seriously going to do this to me?

He leaned his forehead against mine, and closed his eyes. I could both hear and feel his long sigh across my skin. His steady heartbeat had picked up speed, making me certain that I was not the only one affected by this.

"Just so you know this is not going anywhere," he told me quietly.

"Yeah I know, your family or mine is about to come by and interrupt." I replied as I pulled him back towards my mouth. "Your grandmother suddenly decided it has been too long since she has seen you and will be knocking on the front door in about a minute."

"Actually Bee would not bother to knock, what she would do is watch and then tell me what I did wrong," Phil told me with a smile as I felt him relax a little against me.

He moved closer to me, closing the distance between our lips. Parts of me were getting very excited. _Down girl, nothing is going to happen, it is just a kiss._

Much to my disappointment Phil did not kiss me the way I wanted, instead he peppered my lips with kisses that never quiet made it fully on my lips. He always seemed to miss, was he trying to piss me off?

I opened my mouth to protest when he dipped his tongue into my mouth and ran it along the inside seam of my lips. This was more like it. But then the bastard retreated after only one sweep, I followed his tongue back into his mouth. He tasted of lemon cake and the mints we had grabbed from the jar as we had exited the restaurant. Lemon cake had never tasted this good, I might consider eating the stuff if it was served up on Phil.

I rubbed my tongue against his before pulling back trying to encourage him to come back to my mouth. I felt the hard wood of the door behind my back as Phil pushed back against me, instead of complying with my wishes he started kissing his way down my chin and neck. Not that what he was doing was a bad thing, his teeth nipped lightly as he moved down the column of my neck before stopping right above my shoulder and taking a bigger bite.

I let out a little yelp, more because of the surprise than the pain. My stomach clenched in need as my body remembered what it felt like that have him place kisses and bites on other parts of my body. Suddenly I could not recall why we had decided that we were only going to do kissing, I wanted everything right now.

_Geez Leah, are you going to be one of those girls that puts out on a first date? _Hell yes I am, especially when it was Phil and his magical hands. I had been too busy with what he was doing to my neck to notice that his hand had moved underneath my shirt. His long graceful fingers were moving in a lazy circles across my lower back.

When his mouth moved back on mine he finally gave me the kiss I had been wanting. Hooking both hands underneath my ass, he lifted me and roughly pinned me against the hard door. For the life of me I could not have been able to determine what was harder the door behind me or Phil's chest. He might not have big bulky muscles but the ones he did have were strong and hard. I lifted my arms and legs and wrapped both around his body before tilting my head up in order to get a better angle. His tongue make quick deep sweeps into my mouth, causing other parts of me to clench with desire. It was almost embarrassing how wet he could get me with just a few strokes of his tongue. It might have been that the agile movements reminded me of how well he was able to lick another set of my lips. Or it could have been the fact that I was a horny twenty year old.

"Oh hey Leah, I got your car all ready for you." I heard Aunt Jazz say, her voice sounded a little far away. I was determined to ignore it but Phil had other ideas. It was obvious how reluctant Phil was to leave my mouth, he pulled my bottom lip into his and sucked on it a few seconds before letting go.

Aunt Jazz was standing not a yard away casually leaning against the wall. Could she not tell that I was busy right now and did not give a rat's ass about my car?

I heard Phil's low chuckle as he pulled me into a bone crushing hug, I could tell that it was not meant to be arousing but my body decided to interpret it another way. Before he let me go I heard him whisper, "deserted island".

I was ready to go pack my bags when I remembered the promise to go see my mother tomorrow. I went into my room, alone, and wondered if cold showers worked for girls.

* * *

Morning came far too soon and I was very grumpy when Phil walked into my room to announce that it was time to get up. I very reluctantly brushed my teeth and pulled on some comfortable clothes, Phil ended up having to pull and tug me in order to get me into my car. Luckily Phil was the one driving today because as soon as he started moving the car I promptly fell asleep.

I don't know how long I would have stayed asleep if it had not been for the fact that my stomach grumbled loudly.

"There are some breakfast burritos in the cooler behind you," Phil told me noticing that I was becoming a little more awake.

I reached over and had finished one before he could tell me about the hot sauce. So I ate another one this time with hot sauce. It was good, a combination of cheese, eggs, peppers and some sort of sausage all wrapped up in a tortilla.

I was eyeing my third one when I felt the car slowing down. I looked up to see Phil pulling over to the side of the road, there was nothing around but roads and the rows of trees. It was a few minutes later that I saw my pack coming out of the woods that I realized we had reached our destination.

"What are you going to do all day?" I asked Phil as he got out of the car and opened the trunk. That is when I noticed the hiking gear and walking stick.

"I am going to do a little bit of hiking." He told me with a smile as he put on his backpack before he headed off into the woods. "Oh yeah there is more food in the trunk."

You did not have to say food twice to my pack members, they immediately started to pull out the foil wrapped burritos and began to inhale them.

Jake and Seth joined me in the car while Quil and Embry ran into the woods. I noticed they had entered the woods in the same place as Phil. Good maybe they would keep an eye on him.

My morning was going well but that was about to change, after going to my mother's house and being questioned about the new car I headed over to Sam's mother's place. Surprisingly my mother took the fact that I had a new car rather well, but that might have been because I failed to mention that Phil was involved in the purchase of the car. It also helped that I could not stay too long since I was expected to go get measurements done for the all important bridesmaid dress.

My mother must have called ahead because Emily was waiting for me on the doorstep when I pulled into the driveway. For a moment she looked like she was about to hug me, but my dirty look stopped her from making that sort of mistake. Everything would be just peachy so long as she understood that I did not really want to be here.

She quickly led me into the kitchen, today the small table was overflowing with bridal magazines as well as ribbons and swatches of cloth. One of our cousins was waiting there as well, Jodie, the one that had gone to the big city to become a fashion designer. For some reason I don't think it worked out as well as Jodie had anticipated.

"Well shit, what have you done Leah?" Instead of saying hello to me she walked around me with a displeased look on her face, " it is a good thing Emily has planned on having me hand make the bridesmaid dresses because you sure as hell would not be able to fit into a dress off the rack." There was not way to reply to her rude greeting so I did not even bother.

Less than fifteen minutes later I was standing around with my hands held out while Jodie was getting all my measurements. Jodie was calling out numbers as she ran the measuring tape across my arms and chest. Interspersed with the numbers was a constant talk about the right color for Emily's wedding dress. I made the ultimate faux pas, by pointing out that white was usually a good color to go with - apparently I did not know anything because there were over thirty shades of white available. I mean seriously who the fuck cared, white was white. So needless to say I was standing there bored out of my mind wondering how long this torture would continue.

"Well you have no boobs, we might have to add some extra padding so that you can actually fill out the front of the dress." Jodie commented as she took my bust measurements. I opened my mouth about to protest, Phil liked my boobs just the way they were. Quickly deciding it would be more prudent not to mention the fact that Phil had felt up my boobs I shut my mouth again. Knowing blabbermouth Emily she would immediately rush over and tell my mother - that was a can of worms that I did not want to open right now.

Speaking of Phil I had not heard form him all morning, I was not expecting him to stroll into the room but a phone call would have been nice. I knew he was a big boy but if a vampire got his hands on him it would not end well, Phil cannot heal as well as I can.

Having worked myself up into a fine tizzy I decided now was a good time to take a break, "hey girls sorry, but I need a minute to make a phone call." I told them as I walked out the door. Pulling my phone out of my back pocket I sent off a quick text asking him if he was all right. The text was the best I could do since Sam was in the house and I did not want him overhearing any conversation I had with Phil.

_ Everything is fine Princess. I am staying warm_. He wrote back less than a minute later.

I could not help but laugh at the warm comment, he was such a dork about keeping me warm. It made no sense especially since he knew I did not get cold. I went back inside, my mood a great deal more cheerful.

It did not take long for the fitting, but then I did not encourage them to linger. But if I had to hear one more comment about the fact that I was too tall or my shoulders were too wide I was going to kick Jodie's ass. Emily must have seen my slightly shaking hands because she encouraged Jodie to finish up quickly.

Since they were feeling generous with me Jodie decided I was going to be the first one outside of her and Emily to see the fabric they had chosen for the bridesmaid dress. I was not a fashionista by any means but even my poor taste could discern that the color they had chosen was god awful. It was a pale yellow green, in my humble opinion it looked like barf. When Jodie showed me how it would crinkle up over one shoulder it was all I could not not to laugh. _Oh good chunky barf_.

After that little tidbit of knowledge I quickly made my escape and headed back to my mom's house, she had seemed satisfied by the story that a friend had helped me pick out the car. I told her what my payment plan was and even Charlie who had come over for the afternoon seemed to think I had gotten a decent deal. He did not need to know that between Phil and Aunt Jazz it had been insured that I would not get screwed over.

When he had escorted me home Jake had offered to take a look at the car for me. "I don't need you to look at it, Aunt Jazz already did that." I hissed under my breath.

Jake looked disappointed. Yeah he would want to lift the skirt of this car so to speak, but I was not letting any amateurs around my baby. He should consider it an honor that I let him sit in it, I might not be in love with my car but it would take a lot of hours of waitressing for me to pay it off.

I did not really have the opportunity to talk to my mother about Phil since Charlie had decided to spend the afternoon and stay for dinner. Seriously did the man not have his own house or something? So instead of speaking to my mother about about Phil I told them about my classes, work and Jenny. I skirted their questions regarding life in the dorms, I was a coward and not ready to tell my mother about Phil yet.

Dinner consisted of my mother's secret meat loaf recipe, mashed potatoes and green beans. I had to admit it was not the most heart healthy of meals, good thing I was a wolf. It was getting late in the afternoon and I would have to leave soon if I was going to get home at a reasonable hour. Saying my goodbyes to Charlie I walked out the door with my mother.

Charlie offered to get started on the dishes as payment for my mother cooking for him but I think he just wanted to give me some alone time to say goodbye.

"So why did you really come here?" My mother asked as she walked me to my car.

"Why to see you of course, since we did not get to talk on Wednesday." I said somewhat defensively.

My mother must have smelt my guilt because all she did was give me a look.

"So I may have met someone?" I told her more like a question than an answer. Though I guess I had already met him. "But I am still trying to figure out what I am going to do."

My mother gave me a searching look, I do not know what she saw when she looked at my face. I had not lied to her exactly, I was still trying to figure out what to do with Phil.

"You know what happened with Sam..." My mother started.

"Sam has nothing to do with this, he was just a boy trying to deal with circumstances out of his control. This is completely different, I actually see the real man and I truly like him."

"You just don't know how much you want to risk?" My mother got to the point. "Especially since you have not imprinted on him." That last part was a statement, not a question.

If I was going to be honest with myself I would have to admit that I knew Phil well enough to decide: he had character, his priorities were with his family and would be with me if that is what I wanted, and more importantly I knew my heart would be safe in his keeping. Phil would never do to me what Sam had done. There was only one question that I needed to answer: was I attracted to Phil because he was such a safe choice or was it because we really were good together?

* * *

A/N: All right girls all done, despite a few hiccups. Well more along the lines of a second sick child, but hopefully we are done with all that. Knock on wood. By the way I hope the explanation Phil gave made it so that he is not that different from Leah, he has just found his place in the world.

In case anyone wants to know I actually do have a cheesecake recipe that calls for two pounds of cream cheese it is really yummy but a real mess to make.

Connect2tjb: Glad you liked it, I expanded the lemony bit slightly, I really need to practice writing them. I just wonder at times how much details people actually want.

ABarbieStory: Hell no I am not doing a wedding, I am supposed to be doing something else, which is what I will be doing for the rest of the afternoon. Glad you liked Phil's parents, Tam is kind of funny. Of course they got interrupted, imagine what would happen if they did not.


	29. Moving On

28 - Moving On

I ran through the woods as quietly as possible, the thick carpet of moss underneath my feet muffled the sounds of my large paws hitting the ground as I weaved through the large trees. The canopy of trees above me prevented most of the rain from falling directly onto the ground, instead the leaves collected the water together into much larger droplets which them made a constant dripping sound when they finally hit the ground - I was not complaining since the sound was masking my movements when I missed the moss and hit the soggy leaves instead. The hemlocks and firs were very dense in this region of the woods which meant there was very little light that made it through the thick canopy, again something that was working in my favor. Not that there was that much light to begin with, the sun had set several hours ago and the heavy cloud cover blocked even the meager light of the stars. My normally useful wolf eyes could barely make out anything in front of me, everything was a blur of shadows. Even my sense of smell was limited because the scents had been washed away by the steady rain of the past couple of days. I was running practically blind but that meant that he was as well, I was hoping that my sense of smell was better and that I could somehow pick up his trail.

Occasionally I ran across a trail of a rabbit or squirrel but I was not interested in them, I was hunting bigger game. Finding the trail of my target was a little harder but after nearly an hour of searching I finally located a relatively fresh scent, wasting several minutes I determined which way he was going. I looped around the trail trying to cut him off from the south - my speed was another advantage so if I could run around him and blindside him I might be able to take him down. Hopefully he would not hear me coming at him, I was moving so fast along the ground that I was nothing more than a grey blur.

I scored big time when I spotted him running through the trees, he was not looking in my direction which could mean he did not know where I was. My view of him in the dim light was monochromatic as his image flitted in and out as he ran past the trees. I calculated his trajectory while trying to time my attack just right.

In an extra burst of speed I veered right in order for my path to cross with his, pushing myself to go even faster than ever I sped towards my prey. Running past a rock I twisted to use it as a bouncing board so that I could jump on his back. But I somehow missed and landed awkwardly rolling to the side as I tried to avoid smashing my face into the dirt. How could I possibly have missed when my timing was right on? I rolled back on my feet and peered into the gloom.

I heard a soft chuckle to my left, turning in the appropriate direction I saw him casually leaning against a tree, smiling with full dimples. "Hi there Princess looking for something?"

_Jerk._ I thought at him as loudly as possible, sometimes he heard my louder thoughts without even trying. It was a certainty that have received my mental message because he laughed louder this time as he came towards me. The bastard must have jumped right before I tried to tackle him, otherwise his cute ass would have been mine. He was such a cheater and I was so going to call him out on it.

"Are you ready to start heading home? It is getting late and you do need your beauty sleep. Not that you are not pretty enough as it it." Phil did not wait for me to answer instead he took off his backpack and pulled out the small bag containing my clothes.

I padded over to him in wolf form I was nearly eye to eye with him when on all fours. At first I had been bothered by the thought of shifting in front of him, maybe he would think my wolf form kind of creepy. He was kind of dating a girl who could turn into a giant wolf, that fact would have bothered most guys. I should have known better, Phil pretty much accepted me no matter what. He treated me like Leah no matter how furry I might be; his nonchalant behavior around me when I was a six foot tall hairy behemoth was what I needed to stop feeling self conscious.

In retaliation for his earlier cheating I licked him with my big wolf tongue all the way across one side of his face. I immediately grabbed my pack of clothes and took a few steps back to see the full effect of my prank. Part of my reason for being this obnoxious was to harass him but the other reason was that I also absolutely loved the way he tasted - that was probably wrong but I did not really care.

"Ewww dog breath," he told me wiping off the drool with the sleeve of his jacket. I gave a little doggie snicker and ran into the woods to phase. I found all my clothes including my underwear neatly folded inside, hmmm I wonder if Phil liked my undies - these were my new ones from Aunt Katie, the scraps of lace. I certainly had not spent the time to fold them this neatly, so he must have done it.

Phil was sitting on the rock that I had unsuccessfully used as a bouncing board, my socks and shoes were in his lap. I sat down next to him and put on my shoes.

He stood up brushed the dirk off his backside before offering me his arm. "Shall we go home, darlin'?" He said in a fake Southern accent. When he wanted to he could sound authentically Southern, I was always freaked out by it when he did. I liked his British accent better, skinny little white boy with a British accent did not do it for me but when Phil did it with his dark skin it sounded really exotic.

"Of course," I tried to mimic his accent but failed. I wrapped my arm around his and we started walking back towards the house.

"You are getting better at this." He told me after a few minutes of silence.

"I almost had you, if you had not jumped you would have been Phil pancake." I told him, we had done this a few times before; the first time I had not put forth any effort. I had foolishly overestimated my ability to track Phil, I spend hours searching through the woods. Finally giving up, I went home to find him drinking tea sitting next to the kitchen counter. Phil had chided me for my unwillingness to give it my all then he offered me the cookies he had baked while waiting for me. I had learned to always give my all when playing with Phil, since it had become apparent that when he played these games he brought all his millennia of experience to the table.

"What time is it?" I finally asked after allowing him to move the wet fern out of my way. He always treated me like a dainty girl, it made me feel nice - especially since I was over six feet tall and could pick up small cars with my bare hands.

"Close to midnight I would think." The smile could be heard in his tone, I looked up at him suspiciously wondering what he was up to.

"Phil?" I said his name as a question.

"Yes darling?" He asked, his face a picture of innocence. I did not buy this for a second. He let go of my hand and started to run at full speed. "Race you to the house," he told me over his shoulder.

It took me a moment to realize he had declared a race, I was not worried, even in human form I could outrun Phil so long as he did not do the jumping thing. I quickly caught up with him and then ran at full speed all the way to the house. I was feeling a lot more comfortable running around in the woods. Phil and the other family had caught four of the seven vampires that had grabbed me, unfortunately the psychopath scientist was not one of them.

"We had a nice ... conversation... but they did not know anything about the whereabout of the others. They were just the lackeys and knew nothing of the doctor's plans." Those were Phil's exact words when he came home after the family had caught the first vampire. For some reason conversation is not what I would have called what they did to that vampire. They brought me a picture as well as a piece of clothing of the leech so that I could confirm this was the one that had taken me.

The vampire had several chunks missing from his body and looked decidedly lopsided, his face said he would have wet his pants if that could be possible - apparently they had already started on their 'conversation' when the picture was taken. At first I had been very determined to be around when they caught the leeches but after seeing the look of horror on his face in the picture I decided I was just going to let Phil and the family do their jobs. The picture reiterated the fact that Phil was not always sunshine and smiles. I had to remind myself that these guys had kidnapped me to be raped, and they had kidnapped and murdered at least one girl. These vampires were not going to be given the courtesy of a warning, they had attacked family and that was the end of it. The notion that I was considered family had been intimidating at first, but I realized it was partially as a means to protect Phil. Kendrick especially seemed to take my safety very seriously, but I could not blame him for being overly cautions since according to Blossom he had lost his mate.

My pack had taken the credit for the kills, at least as far as Sam was concerned. Jake and the boys were still pissed that they had not been given even a little bit of the action, the family had taken care of everything before they had called Jake to let him know that part of the job was finished.

I came back to the present as I quickly headed for the side door that led to the kitchen - very rarely did anyone use the front door in this house. Phil had lost the race by so much that he was nowhere to be seen, with a feeling of glee for winning at least this part of a game I moved inside to get something to eat while I waited for him to catch up.

"Hi there Leah," I heard a voice coming from behind the opened fridge door, for a moment I was pissed because I was afraid Phil had cheated and had made it home before me. But the voice had been clear and high, not the deep rumbly one of my boyfriend. When the door closed a little I saw Tiffany standing in front of the fridge, she was only wearing panties of course. It was a pain when you knew that you really should not be staring at a person's ass but that is what you found yourself doing.

Tiffany was close to seven feet tall, her body was so slender that some might worry about her being anorexic. If you had to use one word to describe her it would have to be long. She had long willowy legs, long lithe arms, long graceful fingers, and a long narrow face that looked a little too angular to be considered truly beautiful. Her long straight blonde hair went to her knees, and seemed out of place with her dark brown eyes. Her skin was not as dark as some of her other cousins, it contained a hint of color but not the caramel hue of Phil and his cousin Kendrick.

The past couple of weeks since moving in with Phil had been interesting to say the least. Since this vampire group was being elusive Phil had asked Tiffany to come help, so she and her parter had just showed up one day and took over a bedroom suite. There was enough room since Kendrick and his easily forgotten partner were currently staying in the cabin.

This was not the first time that I had witnessed the sight of Tiffany strolling through the kitchen in nothing but her lingerie. One night after Phil and I had gone out to take advantage of the rare clear night we walked into the kitchen to find her wearing only a pay of boy shorts panties - to say I was shocked was an understatement. I may have spent a minute or two starring with my mouth hanging open, though it could have been the fact that she was so tall. Phil had walked past her like it was an everyday occurrence to find a naked girl in his kitchen, I had since learned that it was not that uncommon. Phila did not really wear clothes around the house either, but at least she put on some sort of top with her underwear. Phil was the only one who bothered with clothes, sometimes I think he only did it because of my presence.

"Hi Tiffany, I guess Jasper is coming over soon." I told her with a sigh.

Tiffany had somehow taken Jasper Cullen under her wing and was training him; I really did not want to know for what purpose, some things should remain a mystery. Seriously, Jasper was a military man with years of experience and to have someone actually train him was very disturbing. When Jasper came to see Tiffany for a training session, she tended to take off most of her clothes. When I had called her out on it she explained her reasoning: since Jasper was old school southern boy it really bugged him to see her naked. She was trying to prepare him to deal with any situation, even a naked opponent.

"Do you fight a lot naked people?" I had asked her with a laugh when I found her in the kitchen in a hot pink Hello Kitty thong.

"I am trying to make him uncomfortable, so he is distracted, he needs to learn how to fight with distractions." She replied, seemingly unconcerned about her lack of attire.

Tiffany was currently pouring what looked to be heavy cream into the remaining half gallon of milk.

"Hey some of us might not like it messed up like that." I protested, even though I knew it would be useless.

"Not a problem, I already wrote milk on the shopping list," she told me with a smirk as she picked up the gallon jug of milk and drank it all. For a moment I considered introducing her to Paul, but then I reminded myself he had already found his mate. Though I would have thought it was absolutely impossible I had found that Tiffany ate more than Paul, neither of the two had anything on Kendrick though - that boy could pack it away like nobody's business.

"Have you ever heard of this nifty little thing called a cup?" I reminded her as she chugged the milk mixture straight from the container.

"Have you ever starved to death?" She asked me, I assumed it was a rhetorical question. Obviously since I was standing right next to her breathing I had not starved to death. She continued when she noticed I was not going to answer her question. "I have and it really hurts, so pardon me for trying to stay alive."

Phil had explained about Tiffany after I initially met her, she was one of the death squad, like Kendrick. This was why she needed so many calories to maintain her bod under normal circumstances, it got worse if she got hurt. I was assuming that she was anticipating getting hurt training Jasper and was pre-treating herself so that she could have the reserves to heal herself.

"Well you have fun with Jasper," I told her while hearing Phil come into the house. My need for a snack forgotten now that he was back. "Hey there slowpoke," I told him kissing him lightly on the mouth. I may have possibly rubbed the front of my body across his as I moved up to give him the kiss. I felt his body stiffen a little bit, almost like he was bracing himself for an attack. Ever since that one day that his parents had interrupted our fun Phil had kept things mostly innocent, there was lots of kissing but the clothes stayed on. It was starting to annoy the hell out of me, I really was curious as to what he looked like naked. Well if I was being honest I wanted to move things along a little more quickly, Phil on the other hand seemed determined to slow down the pace. I never though it would be a guy that was telling me to slow down; so I had to settle myself for 'accidentally' brushing my body up against him.

"Leah." I heard Phil tell me with a stern voice, as he moved away from me.

"Let me go get my pajamas on." I told him quickly heading upstairs to brush my teeth and wash my face some flannel pajama bottoms and an old tshirt. Sexy nightwear it was not, but it was comfortable to sleep in.

We had a routine down by now, Phila called us the old married couple, but it worked for us so she could just kiss my rear. After whatever outdoor thing we did to burn off some stress we would settle in one of the large couches in the living room and watch something on TV.

Tonight Phil was already waiting for me on the couch, his large feet were up on the wide ottoman as he pushed the buttons on the remote he looked searched through the recorded things. That is what we usually watched because honestly there was nothing worth watching on at midnight. I picked up one of the extra blankets that had been neatly folded across a chair before settling down next to Phil on the couch. The foolish man helped me pull soft blanket across our lover bodies as I snuggled into his side. Unbeknownst to him, I had not been given the perfect opportunity to play without being seen. He was a very pathetic psychic is he did not see this coming, but it looked like his concentration was focused on finding something to watch.

Sometime in the past few weeks I had become what some might call a cock tease. Phil had been insistent that we take things slow, especially since it was all new to me - Phil had spent the past several months getting used to the idea of us getting together eventually, but he thought it would be unfair to me to just jump into a physical relationship without dating for a while.

I could see his point but at the same time my body did not understand why we had to wait. My imagination had gone into overdrive, my unsatisfied libido was working overtime now that I had pushed away the darkness that had surrounded me ever since the first time I shifted into a wolf. My body was making some serious demands and my mind was starting to give in - much time was wasted imagining what it would feel like to rub naked against Phil's hard body. At first I assumed it might just be that I was horny in general and any body would do, but then during a conversation with one of classmates I learned otherwise. Peter had been somewhat flirty with me and had even gone so far as to ask me on a date, I could not tell why he had bothered since he had never received any encouragement from me. At one point in a conversation he got too close to me, and I got a big dose of his scent. For once he was not doused with his usual aftershave but even then he smelled off, his natural scent was beyond unpleasant - it was off-putting. The wolf instinct in me reared up and my hackles rose, this man was too close to me and I did not like it, I had to cough to disguise the growl rumbling deep in my throat at his proximity. Phil was the only one that my wolf instincts enjoyed getting close to, his was the only body I wasted to molest.

My body and my mind seemed to be together on this one. They both wanted Phil, my body had already decided on Phil my mind knew what it wanted but I was still a little uncertain. Breaking up with Sam had really done a number on me, I was no longer that innocent girl that could throw my heart into the fray without any worries.

Just because we were doing things slowly did not mean that nothing was going on between us. I managed to get in at least one serious make out session per day, despite the fact that both of our hectic schedules really did not allow that much time together. I was not averse to doing a little bit of groping even if it did not really lead anywhere, if I was going to be in a perpetual state of arousal I was going to make sure I had company.

Phil had started working at one of the teaching hospitals in Seattle as well as opening his own private clinic, I don't know exactly what he did. I knew he was a plastic surgeon but for some reason I got the impression he did a lot more than just boob jobs. I think he was working with Carlisle Cullen on some sort of surgery technique involving stem cells, Phil had tried to explain it to me once but all I got out of it was that he was trying to grow new skin. Phil's work hours tended to be insanely long and he was on call most weekends.

"Won't people get suspicious of the long hours you work?" I finally asked him one day. He had left for work before five in the morning and had not returned until past seven in the evening.

"Most surgeons keep these hours, this is why doctors tend to have a shorter life expectancy than the average person." He told me with a smile. It was a good thing he did not need that much sleep or I might as well have been living alone.

I figured out one of the main reasons he wanted me to live with him not long after Phil started working, we needed to be in the same house so that we could actually see each other. As it was I had to somewhat alter my sleep schedule in order to actually spend any time whatsoever with my 'boyfriend'. I had learned to take a nap earlier in the day so that I could stay awake and spend some time with him. During the weekends, unless he was called in for an emergency he was all mine. Well almost all mine, I still had to work at the restaurant - there was that car loan that I needed to repay.

Phil was bothered by my long hours and he worried about it interfering with my school, he spent several days grumbling slightly under his breath. It was only when I pointed out that I was a big girl and could make my own decisions he let it drop. I noticed he was big about letting me make my own mistakes. It was kind of nice that he usually did not say I told you so when my poor decisions caught up with me.

Most nights I fell asleep next to Phil sometime around one am and I would wake up in my own bed the next day, when the evil alarm went off.

"Do you mind watching this movie?" Phil asked me about fifteen minutes in. I had not really been paying that much attention. My mind had been too busy plotting my finger's path up Phil's leg. I had started by inconspicuously laying my hand on his knees and had slowly moved up and down. Shifting to make myself more comfortable against him I took a deep breath. I loved the way Phil smelled - it was my favorite smell in the world, especially when it was combined with the scent of pine, rain and outdoors like it was right now.

"What oh sure, I don't really care." I told him as my hand moved slowly up and down the inside of his thigh, with every sweep it got a little closer to the spot that I never reached. He might be able to keep his true emotions out of his voice and off his face but he could not control certain parts of his anatomy, and that part was telling me he was not so unmoved by my caress. I could also feel his body heating up to the point where it was getting warmer than mine, yet another sign that he was not as oblivious as he let on.

"There is this really good world war two documentary if you wanted to watch that instead." He told me in a serious voice, almost like he did not notice what I was doing. _Liar, liar pants on fire._ Well it would have been nice to have his pants on fire, then I could have helped him take them off.

"Sure, if you want." I answered only half paying attention to what he was saying. I was more interested in what I was doing to him, I had never actually been able to touch the real thing skin to skin. Phil always made sure there was a barrier of clothing between us, needless to say I really wanted to know what it would feel like. I had not even seen him without a shirt on, I think he was doing it to drive me insane with the little sliver of bare skin I would occasionally get to see. Overall I got the impression that most of his body was fairly hairless, I knew there was a little trail of dark hair that went down from his belly button but unfortunately I had not been given an opportunity to pursue it any further.

"All right Leah." I heard him turn off the TV as he turned his body towards me. I had nearly reached the good spot, just inches away from his denim covered groin - not that I would have actually touched it. I opened my mouth to protest the fact that he had shifted his body away from mine. He did not give me enough time to say anything, instead he swooped down and took advantage of my open mouth. His tongue immediately started to make its usual foray into my mouth. This was so much more interesting than watching the movie. Moving quickly to straddle him, I wrapped myself around him pulling his head closer to mine as our tongues battle is out.

Phil lifted his head away from me for a moment, then he started to kiss his way down my throat before he latched on and started sucking the spot where my neck met with my shoulders. I instantly started squirming in his lap, but he knew what he was doing to me - my neck and ears were his favorite spots to suck on. Phil had located this sensitive spot fairly early on and tended to spent a great deal of time on my neck. It was a good thing that I was a quick healer because otherwise my neck would be filled with hickies.

I was in the middle of a groan when I heard them coming in. I would have smelled them even had they not come stomping through the front door.

"Eeew, get a room you two and get it over with." I heard Emmet's booming voice.

I guess Jasper had brought a friend tonight. I got up out of Phil's lap but not before I gave his neck one last lick, I really like the way he tasted. My perverted mind immediately went down south and wondered if he tasted this good in other places. I looked around really glad they had not brought Edward with them.

"Evening boys," Phil told them in a completely nonchalant tone, he did have to adjust himself when he stood up. He used me as a cover, so I was the only one that noticed how tight those jeans were over his crotch. _Hmmm I really needed to see what he had in there._

"You know if you want to watch something you have to turn on the TV first." Emmet continued.

"Or you can go out to the movies and make out in the back like the rest of us." I heard Angus interrupt. He was Tiffany's partner and he actually came from the same planet that her father was from. He was a little taller than Tiffany and had the same long and lean look, he was a little more muscled than she was. They shared the deep brown eyes, but his hair was a straight raven black compared to her blonde.

"I don't like the movies." I replied sticking my tongue out at the big vampire, needless to say my interactions with the vampires that lived close by had seriously improved.

Phil and I had tried the conventional dating method. I spent a great deal of time researching which type of movie would be best for him, comedy or action - I steered away from the chick flicks. We got to the theater and that is when everything went wrong. First of all someone had thrown up and we could both smell the rancid stench as soon as we entered the theater. Since we were already there we put up with that until the movie began, and then the blaring noise started. I don't know how even people with normal hearing could possibly tolerate the level of sound. We gave up even before the movie had actually began and had gone home. That was the first and last time we had gone to the movies.

"Tiffany should be out back," Phil pointed out as he neatly folded the blanket we had been using.

"Yeah, why did you bother coming in?" I grumbled at them.

"Maybe we just wanted to see our favorite wolf," Emmett told me with a big evil smile. Giving up I headed up to bed, that deserted island was starting to sound better and better.

The next morning I growled at my alarm, I swear it went off earlier and earlier the closer it got to Friday. I had class this morning so I had to hurry, especially considering History was my major and the professor did take roll. It did not help that the commute to school had vastly increased since I moved out of the dorms, I now needed a good forty five minutes instead of the ten minutes it had taken to walk across campus.

I ran downstairs ready to grab something quick when I noticed Cindy was waiting for me with an aluminum foil wrapped package and a thermos.

"I love you." I told her as I accepted my breakfast before running to the garage to get my car.

Cindy was actually completely human, at least as far as I knew, but the way things had been going these days she could have been a witch or something along those lines.

She was a single mother of two that had been doing odd cleaning jobs to keep her kids fed and clothed, Phil had given her a better paying and more stable position of housekeeper. It was a good deal all around, she would drop of her kids in the morning and then pick them up once they were done with school. In between that time she worked for Phil, she was a little early today - it must be carpool day, and her friend takes her kids for her.

CIndy's duties were pretty much to make sure the house did not fall apart, she did not do any heavy cleaning or take care of the garden outside, instead she did the everyday maintenance of the house. She kept the fridge stocked with food, did some light cooking and mainly kept the house picked up. The major cleaning was done by some company that came in once a week, I had learned early on to pick up the things off the floor or god only knows where my stuff would end up. The gardening was done by Sassy, at least so I was told, I never really saw her but obviously the beds remained weeded and as the weather got a little warmer new plants had appeared in the new beds.

Cindy was a very nice woman doing the best she could under the circumstances, as much as I admired her for how hard she worked I would never in a million years want to be her. She had gotten pregnant as a teenager, I got the impression that she had absolutely no help from her children's fathers. So here she was a high school dropout working her butt off to make ends meet, I was glad that Phil was giving her a decent wage, she had started talking about taking some night classes this coming fall. It might have have been somewhat of an ugly thought on my part but I was glad not to be stuck in her situation, and I started to push a little harder in school after meeting her.

"You were almost late again." Jenny told me when I plopped down in a chair next to her in class. A normal human would have been out of breath from my mad dash across campus, but I had not even truly exerted myself.

"I was up a little late last night." I told her with a slight blush. You would think that someone as dark skinned as I was could hide their blushes better.

"I can imagine what you were doing. So when are you going to officially introduce me to your boyfriend?" She asked me with a sly grin probably noticing my blush.

"I don't know he is kind of a busy man." I told her trying to find an excuse. Luckily for me class began before she could question me further.

I had work that day so I did not bother going back to the house, instead I went to Phila's old apartment to study, it was still fully furnished - anything that had been moved to the house had been replaced by some plain but sturdy pieces. Apparently they never got rid of any of their houses, something about always having a place to stay. I was also pretty sure that Angus used this place as well - he had set up a small office in one of the bedrooms.

Instead of studying like I should have I took a nap on the comfy couch and took a nap, the only thing I was behind on was Biology and I was sure that Phil would be quizzing me on it soon enough.

Things were busy as usual at work, but I was able to find the time to talk to Mr. Peters. I needed the next weekend off so that I could attend Emily and Sam's wedding, for some reason I had thought that the date was June instead of April and had forgotten to ask for time off. I inquired if there was a way that I could take a couple of lighter weeks, my savings were in relatively good condition and I would need the extra time for studying for exams. Mr. Peters was kind enough to agree to what I was asking so long as I picked up a few extra days after my exams were over.

That night after I had gone to bed, alone yet again, I could not sleep. Instead I thought of everything that had changed in the past three weeks and everything that had not. To my infinite relief moving in with Phil hand not altered our friendship - no matter what Phil was my friend. He was the kind that I could rely on when the shit hit the fan, and knowing my luck that would happen quite often. Nothing would ever change the fact that Phil would be there for me no matter what, that was one thing I could be sure of; dating Phil had only strengthened this knowledge.

As for dating Phil it was far different from what I had with Sa, there was almost no way to compare the two. Phil had his faults, like the fact that he was a manipulative bastard at times, but I knew he usually meant well and when I pushed back he would let me have my way. The important part was that I was aware of some of Phil's imperfections and had not looked at him with rose colored glasses and ignored anything I did not like about him. I was older and a little bit wiser now, the other part that had changed was the fact that Phil was not the type of guy that could be easily fitted into a mold - he was going to be himself no matter how much I tried to push him to be something else. We did not agree on everything but I respected him enough to listen to his point of view, and I had been more than a little surprised when I realized he was willing to listen to my views and opinions.

For example there was the very tiny detail that I had not told my mother about Phil yet, she knew I was seeing some man but I had not told her his name as of yet. Phil kept encouraging me to tell her, saying she would eventually find out about us. I knew she would and it would only only be worse the longer I kept it a secret but I was very hesitant to give my mother full disclosure.

It was not that I wanted to hide my relationship with Phil because I felt ashamed of Phil, in fact he was an amazing man. We had reached a great balance right now, and I was reluctant to let anyone else into the little bubble we had built around ourselves in the past couple of weeks. I could be myself and so could he when we were together, when we started interacting with others there were secrets we were supposed to be keeping. Like the fact that he was not human or the fact that I was wolf, because I had not imprinted on him I was technically not supposed to tell him I was a wolf. There was also the feeling that if I let myself I could fall for this man completely; I had not said the words even to myself, I wanted to be sure before I did so. I liked being around him, we sort of fit together well; our lives had meshed a lot better than I had anticipated.

Using the 'L' word was something to avoid at this point, I was afraid that something bad would happen if I did so, almost like I would jinx this. Every time things had looked like they would be going well fate had totally screwed me. I know it sounded superstitious, but hello, I was a werewolf...straight out of the supernatural.

So maybe a very small part of my need for secrecy had to do with the fact that I was a coward and I did not want to explain to my mother that I was living with him. I even gave up the weekend of my birthday with Phil, instead I had gone back to the Rez just in case my mother wanted to do something like come down and surprise me. She sure would have been the one surprised when she learned that I was not living at the dorm. Jake and the rest of my pack knew where I was, they were not bothered by it much considering the leeches that were running around the area.

I got lucky for my birthday weekend, my mother did not have time to question me. Instead of my birthday being made a big deal of I got to attend a bridal shower for Emily. I thought to the back to that weekend and let the memory wash over me once again, I had done the right thing regarding Emily and Sam - sort of.

_The bridal shower was kind of nice, all of my extended family was in attendance. Well all the females at least, which made the party very loud. Some of my the older women were a little hard of hearing, not that they would ever admit it. We had learned to accommodate their special needs by answering their questions in a very loud voice._

"_Oh, Emily you never told us how you and Sam met." One of the distant aunts interrupted the conversation as we sat around stuffing ourselves with the food that I had not been allowed to help make. _

_ There would have been a time not so long ago that this question would have felt like a punch to the stomach, it was a testament to how much I had moved forward in the past few months that my only reaction was a small smirk. This was going to be interesting, how exactly were they going to explain that first magical moment? The one where Emily met her best friend's boyfriend and suddenly he was following her around declaring his eternal love._

_ Emily's face which had been practically glowing with all the attention she had been receiving lost her bright smile. My mother's eyes immediately moved towards me, concern written all over her face. I simply shrugged and leaned more comfortably against the wall, it had not been lost on me that I was mimicking Phil's favorite position for observing a potentially volatile situation._

_ It was actually Emily's mother finally broke the silence and answered the question, or more like did not answer it. She knew about the fact that Sam was my boyfriend but she had either not been told or had chosen to ignore the fact that we had still been dating when he started courting Emily. "Well you know Leah was having a hard time and Emily came by to make sure she would be all right, and well one thing led to another and my Emily and Sam hit it off."_

_ It seemed that my sweet aunt was willing to throw me under the bus, at least she was not determined to air out all of the family laundry. She went on to tell them how my father had passed away and how Emily had tried stayed to help me - I finally discovered the lies my dear cousin had told her mother. It was interesting to note my aunt did not once mention to the crowd how her daughter and future son-in-law had pretty much broken my poor little teenage heart. I found myself looking over my shoulder to see if Phil also thought this tactic was hilarious, but he was not there. I really did miss Phil, maybe I should have told my mother about him, then I could have brought him with me. I had to remind myself that he could not have been here with me, this was a women only party. But Phil was a big boy, he could have handled them._

_ Soon the conversation got back to the right topic. I quickly got tired of the spectacle of the mother of the bride going on about the wonderful Emily and Sam as well as sharing cute childhood stories. Even watching Emily squirm had lost the power to amuse me. It took me a moment to realize why, somehow along the way I had forgiven Emily for what she had done with Sam. I could not really blame her, it was hard to resist absolute devotion and love. However, just because I forgave her did not mean that I would forget about it. We would never be best friends again, I could never give her my trust after what she had done last time._

_I do not think I could even be her friend again; I had changed too much in the past year while she had essentially stayed the same. She may have heard about some of the things that had happened second hand from Sam, but she did not know what it was like to fight for you life against a newborn army. Emily did not know the strength it took not to run away and instead face certain death when the Volturi came. Most of all she could not know what it means to have all your dreams and hopes die almost instantly; or what it felt like to slowly claw your way out of that dark hole and learn to dream again. No I could never be friends with her again, we no longer had anything in common._

_I left the house and walked outside past the yard to get away from it all and digest the conclusions I had just reached. It felt like a weight I did not even know I had been carrying had been lifted off my chest._

_This is where Sam found me, leaning against one of the old trees behind his mother's house._

"_Do you remember how I used to wait for you against this tree, and you would try to sneak up on me and kiss me?" I asked with a smile, I could not be certain but that is how I had received my first kiss._

_Sam had looked at me confused. "Are you all right?"_

_He must have been shocked that I was not releasing the inner bitch in me. "I am fine, why do you ask?" I was going to make him say it. If he wanted an answer he was going to have to ask me directly. This was a trick I had learned from Phil, I could tell Sam did not like it any better than I._

"_Why are you being nice to me?" Sam asked in a very hesitant almost hushed voice._

"_What? Am I not allowed to be nice to you?" So I was going to enjoy this a little longer before I let him off the hook, so to speak. If I was going to forgive Emily for the choices she made, I was most definitely going to have to forgive Sam._

"_Is there something wrong with the party?" Sam asked looking over my shoulder towards the house, probably worried about Emily. Maybe he thought I was trying to distract him from what was going on at the house._

_At one point his concern for Emily would have really irritated me. Instead I spent a moment looking at the man who had nearly broken me. No, that as not right, I had nearly broken me. I had put Sam in a position in my dreams without actually asking him if he wanted to be there; I gave him all those character traits and goals, the sad part was that I still did not know if those goals had been actually his or just part of my castle in the sky. I had place too many burdens on this boy's shoulders and when things got tough he could not handle it, again I wondered how long we would have lasted had he not imprinted on Emily._

"_The old aunts are just talking about their medical problems." Sam said as he turned back to me, he must have been listening in on the conversation._

"_What else are they supposed to be doing?" I asked him with a scoff, seriously all old women talked about was their arthritis and their grandkids._

"_You never answered my question, why are you being nice to me?" Sam came back to his original question._

"_What reason would I have for not being nice to you?" I asked wanting to make him say it._

"_Ummm... well I did dump you for your best friend." He finally said it, I must say the boy had balls and I had to admire him for that._

"_Oh that part, really you did me a favor." I told him in a nonchalant tone, waving my hand around in a dismissive notion. Months of agony waved away with one flick of my wrist._

"_Did you start smoking pot in that big university of yours? Or is this the result more dangerous illicit drugs?" Sam asked looking at me suspiciously, he had come a little closer. Maybe he was seeing if my eyes were bloodshot and red from smoking the pot._

_I recalled that one night with Phil, I should have known back then that I was his mate. I could not help but laugh a little at the memory. "Pot can be fun, especially when used for spiritual purposed," Wow I was starting to sound like Phil._

_ Sam's eyes suddenly got large as I admitted to smoking pot, he would never know it had only been one time._

_ I continued my speech. "I am just saying we had some good times together, but they would have ended eventually one way or another. I would have preferred it in a little more gently way, but I guess you figured that part out."_

"_So you are over me?" Sam said in a hopeful voice. Geez did he have to be that happy that I was no longer in love with him._

_I opened my mouth to explain that I did not really think I had been in love with him in the first place; but that would probably hurt his feelings and I had wasted enough time trying to make him feel pain. Instead I wanted to go back to my mother's house and see if I could call Phil to convince him to join me tonight on a run._

"_I forgive you Sam for what you did." I told him with a smile._

_Only when Sam returned my smile did I give my parting shot. "But I will never forget." So I was still a little bit of a bitch. Sue me._

I smiled at the memory of Sam's face as I walked away from him. I never was able to convince Phil to come for a run with me that night, but he made up for it on Sunday night when I got home he had made me dessert. Can you say cheesecake?

* * *

A/N: This was fun to write, too bad I kept getting interrupted. Do you like how Leah is changing, how she is tying up loose ends and slowly maturing?

Ms Animegoddess: Sorry your life is hectic, and am glad that this helped. Your welcome for the recipe, I am glad you got it. This PM system gets me a little confused at times, I hit send and all of a sudden I am faced with an empty write your message box. Glad you like Phil's mom, she will get another chapter that will be all sorts of fun.

Jaime2772: Can't they just have sex already? Be glad I am not a prude like SM and they don't have to wait till marriage. As the saying goes: patience is a virtue...that most of us don't have.

ABarbieStory: Don't worry about reading this while watching kids, my problem is I try to write this while my kids are around and my daughter likes to read over my shoulder. Needless to say I don't want my six year old reading some of these scenes. :D

Twilighter: I am very dedicated to my deserts, trust me it was a very sad day when my oven broke. I keep meaning to go back to Jailbait I just can't get past this one spot, once I do the next chapter will be finished in a couple of days.

Connect2tjb: Glad you liked Phil's history, I am kind of hoping it made Leah feel like they are not that much different.


	30. Epiphany

A/N: Just a friendly reminder, this chapter was quickly posted after the previous one so you might want to check and make sure you read it in the right order.

* * *

29 - Epiphany

It was late in the afternoon I did not have work today so instead I was planning on doing some hard core studying for my biology class, final exams were less than a month away and this was the one class I needed to put in the extra work to get that A. The current topic was not that exciting, who the heck cared about the flower color of sweet peas? Did it really matter whether they were going to turn out pink, red or white?

It is a good thing Phila was not around, she would have probably ripped me a new one for having such sacrilegious thoughts. _Genetics is one of the underpinning concepts of biology; if you do not understand genetics you might as well not bother learning biology._ Her words, not mine.

Gathering up all my notes and arranging them in neat piles on my desk I started reviewing what we had gone over last time in class. Seriously who cared about an Austrian monk from the 19th century with a horticultural fetish?

It was not a big surprise that when less than ten minutes my mind started wandering into other topics - the fact that it was getting close to dinnertime was the prominent thought that kept distracting me from my studies. There was no way to retain any information if I did not get something to eat; so heading downstairs I went through my options of recipes that were not beyond my skill set - peanut butter and jelly sounded good right about now. Hopefully Tiffany had not finished off all the milk again, I have had to resort to trying to hide the stuff in order to have enough to eat with my cereal. Cindy had gone to pick up her children from school an hour ago, so it was only the family left in the house.

I found Tiffany in the kitchen wearing a tube top and daisy duke shorts, she was finishing off what from the godawful smell was one of her protein drinks. Next to her were five empty cans of the same stuff, her drink did not smell very appetizing but at this point Tiffany was going for calories and not taste. It was amusing to think how many girls would kill to have her metabolism - or come to think of it my mine was not that bad either, eat anything you want and not gain a pound.

"Afternoon Leah, how are you?" She asked in a cool tone, her voice was devoid of all emotion. When Phil used his emotionless tone it was scary, but when Tiffany did so it gave me the creeps. Phil had told me that Tiffany is capable of completely clamping down and shutting off all emotion, it was something her kind could do.

"Fine just getting ready to do some studying." Trying to be polite but not wanting to get into a deep conversation, I headed for the pantry to gather up my supplies.

"Do you want to watch Jasper and my training session? We will be going full out today to see if he has learned anything." She continued in that dead voice.

"Cut the emotionless crap you are really starting to creep me out." I told her with a shudder.

"Pardon me? Oh, I apologize I was just reading something and I did not want my emotions to color my judgement of their conclusions." It was strange, you could practically hear the moment she let her feelings come back in. "My suggestion is valid, you might consider joining us, you never know what you might learn."

Declining her offer I quickly made my sandwich and headed back upstairs. It was after twenty minutes of unsuccessful crossing of a pink rough pea with a white smooth pea that I finally gave up. Almost the second I looked outside the window there were two streaks of white across the lawn. Jasper was here and he had brought Emmett with him again. _Oh goodie._

I heard the booming knock on the door a few seconds later, it was somewhat a useless gesture considering they opened the front door and came in even before the sound of their knock had finished reverberating through the house. Good thing that the doors were very solid or they would not have survived Emmett's knock.

It was Emmet who spoke first, his deep voice making it past event the extra soundproofing of my sitting room's walls. "We have arrived, let the party begin."

I looked back down at the cross breeding chart, thoroughly confused and this was supposed to be the easy starter problem. The decision to go downstairs was not that hard, technically speaking I would still be studying biology of sorts. Predator versus predator would be considered under the umbrella of biology.

"Oh look who decided to join us," Angus told me when he saw me appear at the top of the stairs.

"Are you going to fight some, too?" Emmett asked with a great deal of hope looking at me. Why would he want to fight me?

"Don't think so." I said at the same time as Tiffany said. "Maybe a little later."

Giving her a dirty look I headed out the back door, Jasper was already there pacing the length of the backyard in mere seconds. He looked somewhat nervous, though that could be understandable. From the hints that had been dropped it was safe to assume that death squad members, like Tiffany, tended to be the most formidable of their fighters. It could have been their superior skill, but I was beginning to suspect it was the fact that they were not afraid of death - something about being able to survive no matter what could have given them that extra edge.

Tiffany not look all that bad as when she joined us on the field, her pink tube top kept slipping showing a little too much breast whenever she made any sudden movements. If you did not know any better you would say that Tiffany was the underdog in this fight. That was until she unwrapped the cloth covered package she had been carrying under her arm.

I was going with the assumption that it was a sword of some sort inside the leather covering the thing was wrapped in, only the large hilt was visible. I watched as Tiffany grabbed the hilt with one had, the way she wrapped her hand around the sword was almost sensual. Like she was stroking an old lover's...well you know what, her face did not give away anything - she no longer felt any emotions, which meant that Jasper whose special skill was detecting other people's emotions would be blind in that regard. "Wow I have never seen one that big before," I noticed that the sword was almost as long as Tiffany was tall.

"All the ladies tell me that but in the end none of them complain." Angus whispered into my ear, taking my attention away from Tiffany's fondling of her sword.

"This weapon is capable of cutting through most things, including your skin. Are you sure you want to do this Jasper?" Tiffany asked in her cool voice. It was really disturbing that she could do that, but at the same time really handy as well. There were times in the past year when I would have given almost anything to stop being able to feel the emotions surging through me.

Jasper paused for a moment his eyes riveted on the sword. It may have been Tiffany's rubbing of the hilt or the knowledge that this weapon was capable of harming him but Jasper seemed to have a hard time trying to decide.

"Ooooh, really it can cut through us? Can I play?" Emmett interrupted before Jasper could give his answer, he was bouncing around the field almost like a pinball. Was it possible for vampires to had ADD, because Emmett looked like he needed some drugs to help calm him down.

"You are not ready for this yet." Tiffany told Emmett, which had the immediate effect of making him pout.

It was hard not to laugh, here was this old vampire made of cold stone pouting like a five year old being denied ice cream for dinner. It was a surprise that he did not stomp his feet and throw a fit for being told no.

We moved the "party" as Emmett called it to the small natural clearing just past the tree line, that way if someone found the house we would have the shelter of the trees as extra protection from being detected. I found an old half rotted stump to sit down on, this would take a while but it would be interesting to see how it would play out. Personally I was betting of Tiffany and from the nervousness that was radiating from Jasper so was he.

Tiffany had leaned her still leather wrapped sword against a tree, and after putting her breast back into her shirt she simply said. "Begin."

There was a fraction of a second pause while Jasper seemed to draw on some inner reserves and he too cleared his face of emotions. Without warning he attacked but missed his target, she was no longer there and it took Jasper a moment to find her again. This went on for a while, the attack of Jasper with the retreat of Tiffany, there was almost a rhythm to it. Angus and Emmett stood together and discussed sports teams, but both of them kept their eyes on the action in front of him.

In a sick sort of way it was easy to imagine that Tiffany was leading Jasper through the steps of a dance, a beautiful but deadly performance. He was very graceful and frugal in his movement, not making any extra moves. Tiffany's movements were filled with extra steps but at the same she moved with a fluidity that even at slower speeds would have given away the fact that she was not normal.

I would have been hard pressed to say how long this went on, it did not look like time mattered to either one of the dancers. It was a testament as to how good fighters they were that I did not realize the dance was speeding up. Jasper seemed to be picking up on Tiffany's moves but she was starting to move faster; it soon became apparent that she was working just hard enough that Jasper could almost get her, but he would always be a fraction of a second too late.

This must have occurred to Jasper as well because he was starting to get frustrated, he added extra movements that were not necessary. He should have known that he would miss when he tried to grab her leg that last time. This seemed to be the signal that Tiffany was waiting for because she suddenly changed from her avoid and flee elsewhere tactics to a more offensive one.

Without warning she appeared behind Jasper and kicked him in the back. It was hard to imagine how much fore it took to cause Jasper to fall on his face and smash into the ground. Everyone watching cringed when we heard the sound of the impact Japer made, he must have hit a rock or something buried under the ground.

I winced feeling pity for the poor guy, that looked like it hurt. Tiffany jumped back as Jasper rolled over in a movement that was almost imperceptible even to my wolf eyes.

"Oh my god, you are going to let a girl take you down?" Emmett taunted from the sidelines.

"Hmm kind of makes you wonder if his lack of skills extends beyond the battlefield, maybe he can't handle in the girl in the bedroom either." Angus joined in with a nasty comment. "Well maybe I can show that pretty little wife of his what she has been missing out on."

Angus jibe finally pushed Jasper over the edge, his previously golden eyes flooded with blackness signaling that he was not fully in control.

He growled and took a swipe at Tiffany, the way he was holding his hands they looked like claws rather than fingers. I could see that he managed to scratch her leg a little. His smile of victory was soon replaced by a look of hunger.

"Wait stop." I screamed trying to run over to save Tiffany. Angus grabbed my hand pulling me back, but I was too late Jasper had bitten her right on the thigh. Horror overcame me for a moment, I looked at Angus who seemed to be not bothered by the fact that his partner had just been bitten by a vampire.

It did not take a moment but almost as soon as he had attacked her Jasper pulled away and clutched his stomach. He fell to the ground and started rolling around the ground, the sounds coming out of him mouth clearly were one of utter agony.

"I should have warned you, I have an excellent immune system. The blood you drank is now going to attack your body from the inside out. It will not kill you but you will think twice about biting me again." Tiffany told him in a cool voice.

Jasper did not react, I could not tell if it was because he could not understand her or that he was in too much pain to react.

"Hey what the fuck?" Emmett said in a cold tone, it finally clicked for him that someone had hurt his brother.

"He needs to learn to control his impulses, this will train him. Don't worry it just hurts like a son of a bitch, but he will be back to normal in less than half an hour." Angus explained as Emmett tried to help his brother sit up.

"Would you like to learn something now?" Tiffany asked as she came closer to me. I noticed the place where Jasper had bitten her on the leg was completely healed over. There was not even a scab to indicate that she had been bitten less than a minute ago, only a little bit of smeared blood was left but as I watched that too was absorbed by her body.

"Oh sure," but it sounded less than certain. My kind healed quickly but it was nothing compared to her, plus it was amazing that her body did not react at all to the vampire venom.

"Let me try." Emmett said, now it was apparent his brother was going to be all right he was prepared to play again. To my surprise Tiffany agreed to fight Emmet next. I tried to hide my relief, fighting Tiffany was not something to look forward to.

"Now if you look at Emmett he thinks he has the advantage over me, and in strength he really does. But this is something that can be in your favor." She told me and went on to demonstrate how to take down an opponent when they think you are the weaker one. "As a woman you can use this to your advantage, men will always underestimate you just because of the fact that you have breasts."

I watched carefully, this was something that could come in handy. After a few rounds of Tiffany demonstrating her moves on Emmett she offered to let me try. This is how Phil found us, I had Angus in a headlock and was trying to rip off his head.

"You know his head does not reattach." Phil told me with a laugh, giving me a kiss on the cheek. He was not at all bothered by the fact that I was still trying to strangle Angus.

"Yeah keep that in mind." I heard Angus tell me, his voice sounded funny. He must not be getting enough air.

I quickly let go of my opponent's neck and instead wrapped my arms around Phil.

"Dinner anyone?" Phil asked smiling down at me.

"But I have not gotten to use my sword yet." Tiffany protested, the laughter was apparent in her voice. She had brought her emotions back into play, that must mean we were done for the day.

"I would rather not do that tonight." Jasper said finally standing up. "If you were to cut something off it usually takes a while to reattach it."

"Silly that is why be brought the duct tape." Angus explained in the most serious tone I have ever heard him use. He was not kidding, picking up the roll of silver tape he twirled it around a couple of fingers. Jasper did not look comforted by the preparations Angus had made.

Dinner consisted of slow cooker lasagna, Cindy had started it earlier today, salad and rolls. We all ate like pigs, well all except the vampires. Jasper sat there questioning Tiffany about her blood's ability to make him sick while Emmett and Angus tried to one up each other in the dirty joke category. So far I was thinking Angus was the winner, but he did have millennia of experience over Emmett.

"So are you ready for the wedding of the year?" Emmett asked me, giving up on trying to beat Angus. I had made the mistake of mentioning the chunky puke bridesmaid dress and ever since then the boys had been harassing me about the role in the wedding.

"Don't remind me, I still have not got a wedding present for them." It was hard to come up with something that would not earn me a stern lecture from my mother.

"You should get them a nice big dildo just in case Sam can't take care of her needs." Angus suggested, he was on a husbands can't take care of their wives rant tonight. Under most circumstances it was best just to ignore what Angus said, especially when you were in the company of both Angus and Emmett; they tended to feed off of each other.

"Most people don't know this but over twenty percent of marriages fail because of sexual dissatisfaction. You would be doing them a favor." Emmett's voice sounded serious and authoritative.

"Just go with the usual silver platter. It looks pretty, everyone should have one, and they will have to polish it before every use." Tiffany put in her suggestion. "If you get one that is fairly intricate it will be especially a pain in the ass to get all the black off."

Now that suggestion had some merit, it was evil but in a very subtle way. Did I not tell myself a few weeks back, no more picking on Sam and Emily? _Hmmm one last time for shits and giggles?_

"Though seriously are they registered anywhere? You can get them something from their list." Tiffany said between bites.

"They are registered but it is at a small store in Port Angeles, unfortunately they don't have a branch here in Seattle, so unless I stopped by on my way to the wedding I am out of luck." With a sigh I realized that there was a trip to the mall in my future.

* * *

The day was not going so well, it started off with a pop quiz in biology class. Of course it had to be over the material I had not studied yesterday. That added to the fact that I was now headed to the mall did not help my mood. I picked a small one near the school, they should have what I need without the big crowds.

It was fortunately a Thursday morning so I did not have to fight the pre-teens that seemed to think the mall was the only place to hang out. Striding swiftly though the mall I dodged the power walkers that were trying to take their walks inside the building because it was still a little too chilly to go outside. The little old ladies walking around in pairs were amusing to watch, their mouths moved a lot faster than their legs.

It was not that hard to find a larger department store, it was a chain I was familiar with, the hard part was locating the china section. I was not going to waste too much time on this gift, and as far as I could tell china was a good choice for a wedding present.

"May I help you?" a woman approached me with a fake smile, her name tag identified her as Lindsey. She came to stand next to me and pushed a vase closer to the center. What was she thinking that I would knock something over and break it? I might be tall but that did not make me a klutz.

"Yes, I am looking for some china as a wedding gift." I was looking around feeling a little overwhelmed. Who knew there were so many different types of plates, glasses and forks. It was not like the food would taste so much better on something trimmed with gold as opposed to a paper plate. I might go so far as to say that the food off the paper plate tasted better because you knew that the dishes would not have to be done after dinner ended.

"If you would tell me the name of the couple, I will see which pattern they are registered for." She told me moving towards a kiosk set up right next to the plates, it was covered with pictures of happy couples in their wedding finery.

I cleared my throat to get her attention. "I don't think they are registered at this store. I just wanted to pick up something nice real quick."

The woman l was talking to looked a little shocked before she controlled her features. I noticed the smile was not as wide as it had been earlier, my 'real' quick comment must not have gone off to well.

I left over an hour later, with a large package wrapped in cream with a large silver bow. Who would have thought there were so many different choices in silver? Lindsey had been less than impressed when I told her my main criteria was based on which one was hardest to clean.

I placed the gift in the trunk of the car, hopefully it would be fine until tomorrow when I would drive up to the Rez.

It was not until I got into the car that I heard a little beep from my phone, the one that indicated I had new voicemail. I fished it out of my backpack while I pulled out of the mall parking lot.

I barely had enough time to run back to the house and change for work; there were certain disadvantages to not living closer to the city.

There were seven missed calls and six voicemails, all from my mother and all within the past hour. This was not going to be good. Quickly I picked the oldest of the voicemails.

The message was confusing, it was simply my mother needing to go as early as possible tomorrow because they had to make sure my bridesmaid dress fit. That did not sound like an emergency, so why had she left the other five messages?

"Leah I called the dorm to leave you a message, one of the girls there said you no longer lived there." That was the next message from my mother.

_Oh shit._ Going through every curse word I knew and making up a few more, I listened to the rest of the messages. My mother became increasingly worried as she kept getting my voicemail, you would think she would have figured out by the third time that maybe I did not have my phone with me. But that was the least of my worries. I had run out of time and my mother had found out in one of the worst ways possible.

Not many could image the dread and reluctance with which I dialed her phone number.

"Leah Clearwater where have you been? And why can't you answer the phone?" She practically yelled at me.

Deciding to try to downplay the entire episode I went with the truth. "I was buying Emily and Sam their wedding present, do you have any idea how many different..."

Unfortunately my mother was not having any of that. "What is this about you not living in the dorm anymore?"

Time to start coming up with some great excuses. "Well I told you that with all the noise I was having trouble sleeping there." Sticking close to the truth tried to diffuse the situation. It was a reason to move out, but and I had a plan to do so eventually - though the plan back then had been to move into my own place.

"So where exactly are you living now? And why did you not think it would be a good idea to inform me of your move?" My mother missed her calling, she should have joined the FBI as an interrogator. If you added Tamora to the mix they would have been an unstoppable pair.

"Well it has not been going on for all that long and it kind of happened gradually." My mind was working at maximum speed trying to weave a plausible tale, one that would prevent my mother from driving up to Seattle to kick my ass. "I just crashed there for a few nights a week to catch up on sleep." The most important decision I had to make very quickly was wether or not to tell her about the fact that I was living with Phil. It was hard having a secret life, and with me it was layers of secrets.

"And where is this that you crashed?" My mother continued, she said the word crashed like something dirty.

"Oh yeah, at Ophelia's place." It would be best to use her full name, it sounded more impressive than Phila.

"And who is this Ophelia and how do you know her well enough to stay at her house?" Suddenly my mother gasped. "...oh my god this is why you did not tell me anything about your boyfriend. You really don't have a boyfriend, it is actually another woman. You are a lesbian."

Wolf reflexes came in handy when your mother told you something like that; it certainly helped me not ram into the car that was in the lane next to me. "What mom? No. Where do you get these ideas, she is just a friend of a friend. Geez I assure you I am not a lesbian."

"Are you sure?" My mother asked, being thrown off track by the thought of me being gay. I did not think she really had anything against gays but she would probably not want her daughter to be one.

"Yes mom, I am very sure, your daughter is not gay." _Your daughter likes the penis, or she would if he would actually come out and play._

"Your Aunt Anne is staying with me for the wedding and she was..." That certainly explained a few things, I decided it was time to stop my mother from heading down that line of thinking.

"Mom, ever since Bobbi came out of the closet she has been determined that everyone around her is gay." Aunt Anne had decided since she had one gay son she could now spot all gays. I don't know why she thought this was true considering that everyone knew Bobbi was gay for years before he finally told her the truth. That special "roommate" that he lived with for years should have clued her in.

"What do you mean she is a friend of a friend? How do you know her well enough to spend the night at her place?" My mother would not be sidetracked for long, it seemed that my arguments had been good enough to convince her of my heterosexual status. Maybe I should have not been less vehement in my denial of my sexuality, that would have bought me an extra few minutes to come up with a plan.

This was when I had to do some lying, I could not explain the true circumstances of meeting Phila. Telling my mother that she was one of the aliens who returned Carlisle after some freakish zombie looking things took him, would not be a good story right now.

"She is actually one of the professors at school and well Phil sort of mentioned her being his best friend when I was impatiently waiting for my acceptance letters." I said his name in as quietly and quickly as possible but my mother still picked up on it.

"Phil, the man you spent so much time with? The one you swore you was not your boyfriend?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. Hmmm so it was my mother that taught me that.

Cringing I tried to formulate a story that did not involve me hiding the fact that I had been seeing Phil without telling my mother about him.

My mother got inpatient and instead of waiting for me to answer the question continued her interrogation. "So you were staying with Ophelia?"

"Oh no, not at first. I sort of just caught up on sleep there on weekends." That was the absolute truth. "She also was kind enough to help me get through this Biology class. I would have probably failed if she had not been tutoring me."

"The girl at the dorms told me you had moved out. That does not sound like it is only a weekend thing." The suspicion obvious in her tone.

I wanted to find the girl my mother had talked to and rip her little tongue out. "Yeah that was a few weeks ago, right after the time those vampires kidnapped me."

"Why would you move in with her, did you want her harmed as well?"

This is when things got a little rough and I would have to lie through my teeth. " "Well since it was Spring Break Ophelia was using the week off as the perfect time to move, she has an apartment in town but was switching to a bigger house. Phil sort of had been planning to move to Seattle and actually had a house built in one of the suburbs. It is kind of freaky but his house is built right next to the Cullen's new place. So when Phila moved in with him I sort of went as well." I had a moment of brilliance. "It was a safer that way as well, since the Cullens were near us they kept an eye on the place to make sure no strange vampires were coming through."

"So what you are telling me is you are living with a man." It was not a question but a statement in a cool and controlled voice. It would have been preferable had she shouted.

"Well not really living with him, I mean I have my own set of rooms and everything." I was still trying to come up with an excuse as to why I had failed to mention the move out of the dorms to her.

My mother was still not impressed, she spent the next twenty minutes lecturing me on morality. I ground my teeth together and did not interrupt her the entire time, it was not until she started badmouthing Phil that I had enough.

"Look mom, you can say what you like about but you leave Phil out of it. He has never been anything but kind to me." Even when I did not deserve it. "As for what I am doing with Phil now that I live with him, I assure you I did a lot more with Sam when we did not live in the same household. We have gone out to dinner a couple of times, and then one disastrous event at the movies where the entire place smelled of puke."

"So Phil is the man you have been seeing?" My mother's voice rose several octaves.

Another lecture was imminent but I was not going to put up with it any longer. "Don't worry mother Phil's pants have stayed completely zipped if you know what I mean." Conveniently the episode on the couch was forgotten in my anger, though technically his pants had stayed on the entire time even then. "Other than one time when he was giving me a tour of the house he has never entered my bedroom, hell he has not even come into my sitting room. You also have to take into consideration the fact that he is a very busy surgeon and so spends a lot of time working. Between my school and work, and his medical practice we are lucky if we see each other a couple of hours a day. As for what people will think of me, they can kiss my ass."

"Leah I just don't want you to get hurt, and people will talk." She did not chastise me for my swearing which was a good thing because she was about to hear some more of it.

"Not one of those people have lived through what I have, and until they do they can keep their judgements to themselves - and quite frankly when everyone else abandoned me to my bitterness Phil was the only one who saw what I could be and he was the only one who believed in me. Now mother I have to go, I need to get ready for work, being an adult I have car payments to worry about. So I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye." I finished by doing something I had never done before, I hung up on my mother.

I don't know what was shocked me the most, the fact that I had hung up on my mother or that I finally had my epiphany. Seriously how could I have been so foolish, it was so obvious. It was not that I suddenly fell in love with him, I had been there for a while now but my fears had prevented me from admitting it even to myself.

It was a surprise that I actually got any of my orders right that night, my mind was occupied with my epiphany. After work plopped down on the couch and tired to wait up for him, but he was really late getting out of surgery - he had texted me something about a bad fire.

* * *

I woke up the next morning in my bed, I could not remember how I got there. Phil was already gone, but in a way that was a good thing. How do you tell a man that you love him? Once again I regretted agreeing to this bridesmaid thing, it would take me away from Phil when I really wanted to spend time with him.

It would have been easier to drive straight from school back to the Rez but I had to stop by the house to pick up Angus, he was the one making the journey with me. Since the vampire had caught me while I was driving to the Rez I was not allowed to go without an escort. I did not put up too much of a fuss when Angus told me he was driving up there with me. I knew the "doctor" and two other leeches still had not been caught and I would rather not have another get-together with the insane leech.

"This is going to be so much fun," Angus said when he joined me in the car. "We usually don't get to go on road trips."

"How do you get places?" The answer came to me before the question was fully out. They jumped. Guess that was nice, they must save a lot on gas.

"We occasionally have to drive or fly." He shuddered at the prospect. "Driving takes forever and they really frown upon carrying any sort of weapon with you when you fly."

Angus ended up being a very amusing traveling companion, though his mind tended to stay in the gutter. I dropped him off at the cabin while Jake joined me for the ride to my mother's house.

She was waiting for me when I got home having taken the day off to help with the wedding preparations, but fortunately for me she could not rip into me right away. Aunt Anne was parked in the middle of the living room, ready to learn some new gossip. If you wanted to announce something to the entire world you told Aunt Anna that it was a secret and asked her not to say anything about it. Luckily my mother did not want to tell everyone that I was living with some man.

I did not linger at home too long, since I had to go make sure my bridesmaid dress fit. I located Jodie and my dress at the Rec center. She was busy helping decorate for the wedding tomorrow afternoon, the place was looking really good. After a quick fitting to make sure everything looked right, I was recruited to help hang decorations. It seemed my height was good for something, the fact that I could reach places without the need for a ladder really came in handy. It was past dinner time when my mother stopped by, the look in her eye made it obvious that I had run out of time.

She did not say anything until we parked the car in front of the house. "So where is Phil, did he not think that coming with you was important?"

We were getting straight to the point. "He is on call this weekend and could not come. Not that it really matters, I have some cousin or another that is my groomsman, so I already have someone to attend the wedding with."

"Leah do you know what you are doing?" Her tone was serious, she was not talking about the groomsman.

In deference to the fact that she was not yelling at me I thought about it for a few minutes before answering. "There are no guarantees in this world, but there are a few things I can count on. One of these things is Phil's friendship; regardless of that I appreciate the fact that you try to protect me but at some point you are going to have to trust me to do the right thing."

"All right, but then why were you hiding the truth from me?" Much to my relief she did not sound angry, merely curious.

"Because I am a twenty year old werewolf that is still scared of her mother?" My explanation sounded lame even to myself.

I heard my mother laugh. "Leah I am willing to let you figure things out for yourself, but I would really appreciate if you would include me in your life."

"Sure, sure." I told her, opening the car door to make my escape.

"And you will bring Phil home for dinner very soon." It was a demand, not a request. I did not protest having gotten off relatively lightly.

* * *

Emily spent the night at my mother's house since the groom was not allowed to see the bride before the wedding. This translated to Seth and I having to sleep in the living room, since Aunt Anne had taken Seth's bed. I considered running to the cabin with Seth and staying there for the night but I was already on shaky ground with my mother.

This morning I got the honor of going to some neighbor's house to get our hair done. Emily had been trying to keep up a steady stream of small talk, asking me about school and Seattle in general. After a few minutes of nothing but monosyllable answers from me she had finally given up. She must have gotten the message that we were not going to be BFF's again.

I had offered to drive us in my car but because of the forest that encroached on the town, sometimes it was faster to walk than to have to drive all the way around. We were in the middle of cutting across a small section of woods when I smelt it. Vampires.

I quickly grabbed Emily's arm to stop her as I scanned the surrounding trees looking for them.

"What is wrong?" She asked in a worried voice.

"Quiet." I growled at her, trying to pinpoint the smell. It was recent and as far as I could tell there were two of them.

They stepped out from behind some trees, their ruby red eyes were not a good sign. It took me a moment to recognize them, they were two of the vampires that had kidnapped me a few weeks ago. Their clothes were a little worse for wear, it looked like dodging the family did not leave much room for keeping up their appearances.

"We have been looking for you." One of them said with that perfectly creepy voice, a small smirk on his mouth.

"Gee little old me?" I asked as a distraction, trying to think of a plan. Taking on two of them would be hard especially with Emily here.

The other vampire's eyes narrowed in displeasure, he must not have a sense of humor. "We have something of yours."

"What would that be?" I pulled Emily behind me as the two came closer, one good swipe and they would kill her. I really did not need for that to happen on her wedding day.

The one with the darker hair threw something down in between us, I backed away for a moment but realized it was a piece of fabric and nothing dangerous. I heard Emily's gasp immediately. "That belongs to Claire."

I looked more closely at the fabric, I could make out a toddler sized jacket in pink with a hood. It looked like there were little pink ears on it. A sense of foreboding gripped me, this was not going to be good. One of the leeches immediately confirmed my suspicions.

"We have the little human, he smells of your kind's stink, so she must be important to you. If you want her back you will come with us." He was looking at me and only me.

Running through several scenarios I quickly realized I really did not have any choice. Phil was going to kill me, if I survived. Not taking my eyes off the leeches I bent over and picked up the jacket, when I got past the sweet sickly smell of vampire I could smell Claire's scent. I recognized it immediately considering she was one of my pack member's mates.

"How do I know that you actually have her, you could have stolen this thing out of the dirty laundry pile." I was stalling for some time. The longer these leeches were on the Rez the higher the chances were that some wolf would run across their scent.

"If you are wrong then the little girl dies? She looks like fun to play with." The other leech told me.

"Leah, we can't take that chance." Emily told me in a whisper.

I pondered the situation one more minute. "All right but she goes free." I told them, that was the deal take it or I was shifting to wolf and trying to kick some ass.

"We can do that." One of them said, dismissing Emily as a non entity. They really must want me for something.

I pushed Emily to encourage her to start running, it did not take her long to figure it out.

"No changing into that wolf thing." One of them told me. He nodded his head in the direction they wanted me to go. I followed trying to walk as slowly as possible, but they quickly noticed my strategy and ordered me to run. It did not take us long to make it to our destination, I recognized the spot even before we had reached the hunting shack.

In the distance I could hear someone crying, there was a small heartbeat coming from that direction. I was going with the assumption that this was Claire, to my relief it sounded strong if a little bit rapid.

Implementing the crazy plan I had come up with on the run here I pretended to trip and fall on a root. On my hands and knees I closed my eyes trying to determine by sound alone where my enemies were, it would be best to give them the impression of weakness.

"Oww Oww," I cried while rolling around on the ground. The vampires had run a little ahead of me before they noticed I was not next to them.

"What are you doing? Get up" The smaller of the two came back. I needed to get the timing right or I was going to be totally screwed.

When he was about a yard from me I rolled behind him and grabbed him in the headlock I had learned from Tiffany. This time though I was not holding Angus, so I used my full strength to twist and pull. The vampire did not stand a chance, as I decapitated him. I threw his head as far as I could into the woods, quickly turning I ducked out of the way of the other vampire.

We circled each other and the still twitching moving body of the headless leech as we both tried to look for an opening. Shifting would have been a good option right now if I had a little more time, but I would be too vulnerable and that would give him the opportunity for an easy kill.

I ran through the strategies in my head. End the fight quickly, had been the advice Tiffany had given me. I wished I had spent some more time that night practicing, it would really have come in handy now. _This is what you are supposed to do Leah, what you were born to do - kill leeches._ I tried to give myself a little pep talk.

He lunged at me but I was able to dodge out of his way, if I let him seize me I was as good as dead.

He grabbed for me again, but this time I anticipated the move and took a hold of his wrist with both hands. I threw myself behind him while twisting to face him again, bringing his arm with me I was able to plant my foot on his back and pull off his arm. His scream of pain was enough to alert the other leech in the cabin, I saw the blur of its approach. Moving quickly I used the headlock to remove the second vampires head. His head joined the other one's as it flew in a big arc into the trees.

"What are you doing?" The doctor asked, I had forgotten how creepy he looked. His expression was one of complete bafflement, he could not figure out who had taken out the two leeches that were writhing around on the ground without heads.

I attacked while he was distracted by the scene around him, unfortunately the doctor was a little more experienced than I had anticipated. He quickly countered my attempted attack and this time I barely escaped his hands.

I don't know how long we did this game, twisting and turning and avoiding each other. When finally I faked a fall and managed to do the trick where I ripped his arm off - venom dripped from the now gapping whole in his shoulder. The asshole was quikc and dodged out of my way as I tried to grab for his head.

"A little thing is not going to kill Joham, the greatest scientist to ever live." He growled at me, but I could tell he was in pain.

I smiled at him showing all of my teeth, but I did not respond because I saw an opening to rip off his other arm. But somehow I miscalculated because instead of grabbing his arm I missed and gave him the opportunity to get a shot in. His fingers burring themselves in my stomach.

The agony of him putting his fingers through my stomach was nearly unbearable, but somehow I pulled myself away enough to grab his other arm and rip it off as well.

I was seeing spots but I knew I had to stay awake long enough to take out this asshole, Claire's life depended on it. That was when I heard the howl of a wolf not too far away from me.

"They will come for me, and then they will finish you off." I told him in a weak voice. I had fallen to the ground now, fortunately we had moved far enough away from the other two leeches who seemed to be crawling around searching for their heads. "He will find you and when he is done there will be nothing left of you." _Oh god, I had forgotten to tell Phil I loved him. How could I have been such a fool?_

The leech looked down at me, the total conviction of my voice must have scared him. It also might have helped that he did not exactly have usable arms, what he did next was surprising but worst of all it sealed my fate. He bit me on the arm, before he ran off like a coward that he was.

I ripped off a part of my shorts and tried to tie a makeshift tourniquet around my left arm. Maybe I could keep the venom away from my heart long enough to make sure Claire was safe. I half stumbled and half crawled the rest of the way to the cabin, the dizziness from my stomach wound was joined by a burning sensation in my arm.

I found Claire in the corner of the cabin huddled and crying. Her little face was smudged with dirt, she looked up and immediately ran to me. "Lee lee, Lee lee. I am scared."

"Don't worry help will come very soon. Quil is coming." I told her in a hushed voice as I collapsed in the middle of the floor.

"You have a boo boo Lee Lee." She told me in her childlike voice. I noticed it too, my stomach wound was not healing fast enough, my blood and along with it my life was flowing quickly out of me; it might have been too much even for my wolf healing skills.

I laughed hysterically as the thought occurred to me even if I were to survive the fist through the belly I was going to die from the venom. The black spots in my vision had gotten worse, I fought hard to try to stay awake long enough to make sure that I had not committed suicide for no reason, to make sure that Claire would be safe.

I could not seem to get enough air no matter how much I tried to draw in a breath. I could hear my heartbeat getting faster. I recognized this sound, this was the same sound that Bella's heart had made just before it stopped beating forever. I remember listening to it outside of the Cullen house, counting down until the last heartbeats.

I don't know if it was my wolf abilities of healing or the fact that I had better senses but I heard my heart beat for the last time before everything went black.

* * *

**Phil**

I was in Carlisle's office playing a game of chess, I had beaten him in the last three games I cannot fathom how he had not figured out yet that I was cheating. Things had been slow at the hospital and other than a few unnecessary consults I had not done anything today.

Well technically my spirit was cheating, it was showing me all of Carlisle's next moves. I hid a grin as I moved my knight in the right position, I would win the game in three moves.

All of a sudden my vision of Carlisle's next move was replaced by one I had seen before. The one of Leah's death, she was lying in a puddle of blood in the middle of the cabin. The agony hit me again, I was not going to lose her, not this way; but I knew that it was already too late. The spirit was not showing me something that was going to happen, this was a vision of what had already happened.

I opened my eyes and noticed Carlisle was looking at me in concern. "Phil are you all..."

"Leah..." was the only word that came out of my mouth as I did something I had never done before, a blind jump. Hoping that my spirit was wrong, praying that I would find her annoyed and dressed in her ugly bridesmaid dress.

* * *

A/N: All right I am now headed to a safe house, you will never be able to find me now.

Seriously, tell me what you think?

Connect2tjb: Glad you liked it, here is the next one :D

Jaime2772: Well now you get 30 chapters and still no lemons. Don't worry patience is not one of my virtues either. By the way, love the word zest...I might have to borrow that from you.

Seize the day 95: Thank you for the compliment, glad you like it. The cheesecake recipe is somewhat complicated PM me and I will send it to you.

Serenity: Embry's bit will come up in a few chapters, all will be explained. Hey, now no slapping Phil around (only Leah gets to do that), he was trying to be a gentleman and giving her enough time to pull her head out of her ass and realize she loves him. :D


	31. Awake

30 - Awake

It was always a relief to wake up before the blaring of my alarm clock, it was such a great feeling when you knew that there were a few more minutes left before you had to leave the comfortable bed. My mind was especially sluggish this morning, it was really hard to wake up. Had I stayed awake too long with Phil last night? For some reason I could not seem to remember what we did.

The sound of my slow and steady heartbeat was very reassuring, but my mind would not tell me why this was relevant. Taking a huge breath I tried to move but my body was behaving similarly to my mind, it was reluctant to obey my commands. What the hell had I done last night that made me feel this sore? It was almost like I had been run over by a steamroller.

It took too much effort to open my eyes, in fact it felt like my entire body was made of lead. There was something on my nose, but when I tried lifting my arm to brush it away the most excruciating pain I had ever felt shot up my left arm. There went the 'I got drunk as a skunk last night' theory, this definitely was not a hangover.

"I know it is hard but try not to move Leah." Tiffany told me in a quiet voice, what was she doing in my room?

A feeling of calm overcame me almost immediately, if the family had found me it meant I was safe; it was not until this moment that I recognized the fear that had consumed me immediately after regaining consciousness. The though of some unknown danger that I could not remember made my heartbeat increase in speed - what the fuck had happened? And why the hell could I not remember? There was a sound of someone moving around the room and all of a sudden a little more light appeared on the other side of my eyelids. My eyelids felt gritty and much too heavy for me to be able to lift, I would have to use my other sense to figure out what was going on.

"She is waking up a little." A strange man's voice told the room in general, his voice sounded a lot closer than Tiffany's. His accent was a little bit foreign sounding, but it was too subtle for me to place. His voice sounded young and smooth, much to my relief the perfect bell-like quality that went with vampires was missing.

"Hi," I croaked wondering if I could ask for some water, my mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton balls it was so dry. Trying to unsuccessfully lick my dried, cracked lips with a tongue that felt about twice the size of normal I attempted to look around me once again. With a great deal of effort I managed to crack my eyelids open just a sliver. It took me several seconds to finally focus on the face of an unfamiliar face that was above me.

Anything I would have said was lost as I took in his appearence, a gasp was my only reaction. He was absolutely beautiful, even the vampires could not compare to this man's looks. Dark blonde hair was streaked with chunks of white and gold, his hair was a little overgrown looking with large curls pointing every which way. The shape of his face was perfectly symmetrical from his beautiful forehead to the dimple on his chin. His skin was without a single blemish, his complexion a light tan color that perfectly matched his pale eyes. His light green eyes finally reminded me of a very important goal, there was something that I needed to accomplish.

"Phil?" The urgent need to find him foremost on my mind, there were a couple of words that I had to say to him. For a moment I was afraid that this man would not understand my garbled words. I don't know if my voice sounded better than I thought or if he read my mind but he answered my question almost immediately.

"He is fine, he just used too much energy trying to heal you and ended up making himself ill." The man must have seen my horror at the thought that I had made Phil sick because he quickly continued his explanation. "He will be fine after a few days of sleep. We all do this sort of thing at one time or another, nothing to worry about."

It was then that I finally recalled why my heartbeat was important, the memories of that demented doctor came back to me.

Quickly looking down at myself trying to examine the damage I came to the conclusion that moving my head hurt like a son of a bitch so it would behove me not to do that again. In fact any type of movement hurt, it felt like I had been pummeled all over. Making another attempt to investigate the situation I looked down at myself, this time moving only my eye. My nose was covered with a clear plastic mask, that must have been what was bothering me when I woke up. A pristine white sheet and a soft looking baby blue blanked were carefully tucked around me. The sheets covered my entire body all the way up to my neck. I could see several tubes coming out from under the blanked next to my right arm, these were hooked up to various IV bags. I considered lifting my left arm to examine it, but even a small movement yielded excruciating pain.

The IV pole gave the impression of this being a hospital but that was the only indication that this was not some bedroom in a very nicely furnished house. The walls were not the faded bland green that seemed to be favored by hospital interior designers, instead they were painted in a cheery yellow stripe pattern. The bed I was in was a wide sleigh bed made of mahogany wood, it was long enough that even stretched out I could not reach the footboard. One thing that was familiar from the last time I had been in the hospital with my father were the monitors with their various blips and lines, though here they were built into the walls. One entire side of the room looked like a window, but there was not one curtain in sight to block the normal view of the urban scene that was usually present outside of hospitals. Here the scene outside showed a sky filled with more stars than I though could possible exist, they shone brightly on the towering trees that blanketed the rolling hills as far as the eye could see.

The lack of a cloud cover as well as the missing signs of civilization gave away my location. The family had brought me to the island.

"Do you want to know the rundown of the damage?" The beautiful man asked in anticipation, Tiffany was nowhere to be seen so she must be either outside my line of sight or maybe she left the room - but no that was not the case, I could still hear her heartbeat and from the sounds of it she was somewhere behind this man. "By the way in case you were wondering I am Tristan, Ophelia's brother."

"We need her to wake up a little more so that I can do a complete neurologic exam." Tiffany told him, finally coming into view. "But I guess we can explain how you got here and what the story is while you wake up a little more. Hi there Leah, let us tell you about the party you went to a few nights ago." Her smile was genuine but I could see the concern in her eyes, I must have really been fucked up if I worried the laid back Tiffany.

It was Tristan who told me the story of what had happened after I died in that cabin. He was very adamant about the fact that my heart had stopped so it was a must that I follow all instructions and take things very slowly for the next few weeks.

According to Tristan, Phil beat my pack to the cabin by just a few minutes, a vision had prompted his search for me. He found me dead with Claire crying next to me. Not having many options he had brought both of us back to the island.

"Claire, oh my god I forgot about her." My voice was still doing the frog impression but at least the words came out right.

"Claire is fine, the last time I saw her she was having a tea party with my wife, though she is probably asleep by now. Quil has not left her side the entire time, he even allowed Claire to pick out the proper tea hat for him to wear." He explained quickly while Tiffany flipped through screens on the monitor. I have no idea what she was looking for. The labels of aVL and aVF had no meaning for me but Tiffany looked to be very interested in them.

"How long have I been out?" I asked in my toad voice.

"A little over two days but this is the island so as you know time is somewhat irrelevant here." Tiffany switched monitors again, I wondered if she actually knew what she was looking at. I don't recall asking her what she did for a living. "The problem is that we need to get you back to Earth or your mother might get suspicious if you are too far along in the healing process."

Before they were going to move me Tiffany wanted to check and make sure there was no brain damage.

"Brain damage?" I joked half heartedly, even the small laugh hurt my body.

"Your heart stopped beating which means your brain was deprived of oxygen, I am just going to check to make sure there is no lasting neurological damage. We need to do this before we move you off the island and away from our superior medical equipment." It made sense when she said it like that. With my luck I would forget everything I needed know for finals.

Oh shit, what was I going to do about school? But I did not have time to worry too much about that because Tiffany started her exam.

"Do you know what you are doing?" I asked desperate to make her stop, as she started moving limbs and tapping various parts of my body. Her questions seemed pointless, of course I knew what three words she had just made me memorize. Blue. Car. Fly. Of course I knew what my name was and what the year was.

"Board certified neurologist." She told me as she continued the torture. "They had to do extensive surgery on your abdomen to repair the damage, had it been a few centimeters deeper it would have hit your Vena Cava which would have meant near instant death for you. As it was, probably only your wolf healing abilities allowed you to move as far as you got."

I cringed remembering the slow agonizing journey to the cabin as Tiffany continued with her story, "the bite mark actually was what caused the most problems. Phil needed to cut open and irrigate your entire left arm to make sure all the venom was out. Your arm is still an open wound that will have to be washed out every few hours so it would be best not to move it too much."

"Good to know," I slurred my words, my tongue still not fully functional.

"Everything looks fairly normal, reflexes are good." She had finished on my open left arm, she must have saved it for last knowing how much it would hurt when she examined it. I was too much of a coward to look at my arm when she uncovered it. "Are you ready to go back to sleep now? For the first few days we will keep you mostly sedated while the major wounds heal, after that we will allow you to wake up a little more. You will probably feel a little drunk on the drugs, we don't want you in pain but we will try to keep you as aware as possible."

I did not bother to answer, as she covered me back up again. In fact I could not answer, I had been too busy trying not to scream as she had messed with my open arm. I merely nodded and hoped that she would see it. Tristan put something in one of my IV bags, almost immediately I got a warm feeling all over. This is really nice, I thought as the darkness consumed me yet again.

* * *

I started having strange dreams after my talk with Tiffany and Tristan, in one of them my mother was there crying but it was too hard to move my mouth to reassure her that everything would be all right. I knew it was a dream because well in real life my mother never cried.

My brother Seth was in my dreams as well, he told me everything was taken care of and to get to feeling better. I did not know what he was talking about, I was feeling pretty good not even the fact that my body felt too heavy to move bothered me anymore.

The next guest in my dreams was Esme Cullen of all people, she was in the room as well and for some strange reason she had an arm wrapped around my mother's shoulders and was trying to comfort her. In all of my dreams I was in an unrecognizable room that had the stench of vampire all over it, this should have freaked me out but again it was a dream so there was no need to work myself up.

It was completely dark outside the next time I was fully conscious, the room was dark indicating that it was night on whichever planet this might be. It did not take me long to figure out what had caused me to wake up, the pain in my arm felt like a good suspect. There was a low light on in the room, and turning in that direction I saw Phil leaning over examining my arm. He had removed the wrapping so you could see the exposed flesh. I cringed before focusing on Phil's face only, my arm had looked like someone had put it through the meat grinder. The skin was peeled back revealing bloody muscles and other things that I did not look long enough to recognize.

"Princess? Does this hurt?" He asked in his rumbly voice. Concern and love was radiating from his face, how had I not figured out until now that I loved this man?

"Not really, you guys gave me some really good drugs." I was quick to reassure him, it seemed that while my voice sounded just as harsh as before my tongue was a little more willing to obey my commands.

"If it still looks this good tomorrow we should be able to close the wound." I could feel him touching me lightly as he carefully closed skin around the wound and put a fresh dressing on it, his long dexterous fingers making quick work of the bandage. Phil did not look up as he spoke, instead he concentrated on the task he was finishing.

Only when he had pulled the blanket back up to my chin did he meet my eyes. He looked tired and worried, "Leah we need to talk about your need to get kidnapped. You need to be more care..."

"I love you." I spit out my not so romantic declaration, but it did stop Phil in mid lecture.

I watched as a big goofy grin spread across his previously serious face, even the dimples made an appearance. "I love you too, Princess."

"Oh I know," I replied in a nonchalant way, that was one of the few certainties in my life. Every time he called me Princess I knew he was telling me he loved me.

"Well someone is certainly sure of themselves," he told me with a huge smile. "It took you long enough to figure it out. Now about this little thing of going off with vampires intent on raping or murdering you. Did you even consider making a phone call?"

"What do you mean it took me long enough?" My tone sounded somewhat indignant probably over the fact that I was not able to sidetrack him from the safety lecture.

He popped up off the chair he had been sitting on and moved until his lips were less than an inch away from my face. It was then that I noticed the deep dark circles underneath his eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Asks the girl who died a few days ago?" He whispered before he kissed me lightly on the lips. He pulled back, but I was not done with him since that was not even half a kiss. He grabbed a small jar of something from the bedside table and smeared an ointment on my lips. "Are you thirsty, I can get some ice chips for you?"

"Not really, but I guess it might get this dry feeling out of my mouth. So did you guys catch them?" I was back on Earth, it was time to start worrying about those leeches again.

"I was not really concerned with them, there was something else occupying my mind." He was smiling down at me like he wanted another kiss. Trying to encourage him I puckered my lips, but then I remembered that my teeth had not been brushed in a while.

"I ripped their heads off, just like Tiffany had taught me. I almost had the third guy too but the bastard bit me." I explained to him proudly.

"The third guy? I am pretty sure that Jake said they found two of them." Phil looked concerned for a moment but then he quickly went into action, pulling out his phone.

"Joham was his name, I ripped his arms off and was trying to go for his head but he managed to bite me." I explained confused, oh shit did they not know about the third one?

"Are you sure his name was Joham?" Phil asked, there was something going on in that big brain of his, he was making connections that were not apparent to me. "Well this explains a few things."

"Would you care to tell me what it explains? For us mortals who are not millennia old?" I was getting frustrated, Phil had an absent look on his face like he was thinking about something far away and obviously not paying any attention to me.

"Of course the Volturi are probably involved." He mumbled to himself, he was searching for something in his phone.

"Explain." I growled at him, if he did not tell me soon I was going to get out of this bed and kick his ass. Luckily for both of us, Phil decided to listen to me and finally explain what was going on.

Joham was the name of the "scientist" who had been going around raping human women to try to make hybrids. The guardians had mentioned his name to the Volturi, so it does not take a big leap to put two and two together. More than likely it has been the Volturi who have financed this little expedition, and if you assumed that Joham's purpose became understandable. He had been sent here to try to create a vampire and wolf hybrid. This was the reason why he was so desperate to get a woman of my tribe.

My blood ran cold as I thought of the possibilities when the Volturi were involved, I had to remind myself they were not as dangerous because now we had the family on our side. It was when I tried getting out of bed that Phil noticed my agitation, he had been busy calling one of his family members.

"All right Princess, let us get you some more drugs." He told me as he put away his phone and immediately reached for a vial next to the bed. Drawing up some clear liquid he reached for one of the IV lines.

"Hey wait, I don't want to go to sleep." I murmured as I felt the heaviness fall over me again.

* * *

The next time I woke it was morning, the constant aching pain in my arm is what initially pulled me from my dreamless sleep. I might have been able to ignore the pain and gone back to sleep it it was not for my mother, it sounded like she was having a heated argument.

"I want to take her home, just tell me when I can do that." She said in a clear and determined tone. "I don't like her in this house, she will recover better in her own home."

"It would be foolish to move her at this point in her recovery. You want to take her away from several doctors, medical equipment, and a nice large room to where exactly?" Was Phil's reply, this was who mother must be arguing with.

"But this is not her home." My mother repeated stubbornly, seemingly determined to get me away from here. Looking around the room I realized here was actually the Cullen's old mansion in Forks. I smiled while eavesdropping on the argument, obviously she had not yet figured out how stubborn Phil could be. She still remembered him as the laid back mild mannered man that he pretended to be last Fall.

"I do not think you fully comprehend the seriousness of the situation, your daughter for all intents and purposes died the other day. She lost several liters of blood, this lead to her heart stopping. We are talking cardiac arrest here, not something to be shrugged off. Everything looks great right now but she is not out of danger, her arm wound is still half way open and needs to be irrigated every four hours. She is not able to eat, drink or even go to the bathroom. The medications she is on need to be carefully monitored to make sure that they don't do her any harm."

"I can follow instructions." My mother grumbled starting to realize that this was a not a fight she would be able to win.

"That is wonderful but can you diagnose a pulmonary embolism or even begin to know how to treat it? The consequence of that going undiagnosed is death, and since she has been in a bed without moving for several days it is not out of the realm of possibilities. It would be very beneficial for her to be near both a physician and the equipment that could handle any problems that may arise." When Phil got this tone of voice it was really hard to change his mind, I had on a few occasions been able to make him see my way by using my feminine wiles but I somehow doubted Phil would respond to my mother's flirting. Seriously wishing I could get out of bed, the pain would have almost been worth it to see mother's face right now.

She made one last ditch effort and pointed out that there were other doctors in the region but she did not sound as certain as before. She must have remembered that taking me to the hospital was not really the best option.

I laughed a little and ended up hurting myself, my stomach must not be fully healed still. _Why was that? This healing business of a wolf was usually much quicker? _I would have to ask Phil or Carlisle about it sometime.

Phil might not have wolf hearing but it was better than that of a human, he must have heard me moan because seconds later he walking into the room.

"Princess, are you all right?" His concern was evident in both his tone and expression. He brushed the hair out of my eyes as he looked down at me trying to figure out where I hurt, that was an easy thing to figure out. The answer was everywhere.

"Yeah I was just trying to laugh, remind me it is a bad plan right about now." You used the muscles of your stomach when laughing and I had been quickly reminded of this fact.

He started messing around with the small monitor on the stand next to me, this time I knew what he was looking at, my heart was beating very quickly. Less than a minute later my mother walked in, there was a distinct look of displeasure on her tired looking face. But for once it was Phil that was the target of her ire, I would hazard to guess that whatever spell he had weaved last Fall to make my mother accept him had just worn off. But that might have happened around the time when she figure out I was living with him.

"Leah you had me so worried," my mother said reaching for my face. _What was up with everyone touching my face this morning? _Though looking down at myself there was no other place to really touch that did not have bandages, tubes or what felt like massive bruises.

"We closed most of your left arm a few hours ago, may I look at it?" Phil asked me before he lifted the sheets off my arm.

When Phil delicately removed the layers and layers of bandages, I got another look at my arm. It was horrible, all swollen and purple but at least it had skin covering it. There was a large gash that had been sewn closed going from my wrist all the way up to my elbows, the skin was still somewhat of an open flap going from my elbow to my shoulder. But the worst part of it was a chunk that seemed to be missing right where the vampire had bitten me.

_ I cut it out when I found you in the cabin. I knew what vampire venom does to your kind and had to think quickly._ It was strange to hear Phil's voice in my head. But I guess he had no other choice with my mother standing over me. _You lost a lot of blood and we had to replace it with human blood, the side effect seemed to be that it slowed down your ability to heal, but it is better than that of a human._

"Is that going to be all right?" My mother asked with a great deal of concern, it was hard not to agree with her assessment. Especially regarding the chunk of skin and the muscle underneath missing from my forearm.

"It will be fine, it already is starting to heal at a rapid rate." Phil explained to my mother, he put on some gloves before touching the edges of the skin that had not been closed shut yet. "These finally look healthy enough to close, the stitches in your forearm will have to come out soon. They are healing rather quickly, which is a sign that the tissue is healthy and the circulation is good. There is fortunately no sign of infection, but we are pumping enough antibiotics into you because of your abdominal wound to clear out most bacteria."

My mother cleared her throat awkwardly, and gave me a look over Phil's bent head. He was too busy examining my healing arm to notice the faces my mother was making, at least so she assumed - I knew better, Phil missed nothing and if the slight curls of his lips was any indication he found this amusing. "She certainly is a quick healer," my mother acknowledged in a subdued voice.

Hmm what was Phil supposed to know and not know, I was not going to worry about it. Phil examining my arm had jostled it enough that it was really starting to ache.

"Wow that really hurts." Wanting to change the subject, talking about my pain seemed the best way to distract both of them.

Phil looked pleased with my complaint, mentioning something about it being a sign that the nerves were working well. "We will lay off the heavy sedating drugs now that your arm is back together so you should be a lot less groggy. Let me just get the tools ready to finish stitching your upper arm."

I tugged a little on my arm right arm, pulling several IV lines with me. "Why all the tubes?"

"You have been out for several days, we had to keep you fed somehow." Phil pointed out one of the milky white bags, I was going to go with the assumption that was supposed to be my food. Turned out that I was totally hooked up, I did not have to eat, drink, or even worry about peeing. That was kind of gross, but my abdomen still hurt like a son of a bitch, so moving in order to go pee might not have been possible with me breaking down and crying like a little girl.

Phil moved around the room and pulled out what looked like a pair of bend scissors, a large tweezer and little oval shaped disks. They were a dull aluminum in color and according to the writing on them they were the suture. He gave me some local anesthetic before starting the procedure, my mother hovered nearby clearly agitated because she had nothing to do. As much as I hated needles I could not help but look at what Phil was doing, it was very interesting so long as I did not think too hard about the fact that he was doing this to my arm. He used the funny looking bent scissors to pull out the needle, never once did he touch the needle with his fingers.

"It is kind of handy that you don't have to thread the needle," I told him with a small smile, my kermit the frog impression going strong.

"If you want to get her some ice chips, they might help her dry throat," Phil suggested to my mother. She jumped to obey, finally having something to do.

"Thanks for that," I told Phil as he started to put perfect even stitches into my arm. His speed was faster than a should have been possible for a normal human. "Her nervous twitching was starting to bug me."

"It also allows me to do this a little faster," he told me without looking away from his work. His movements were practiced, like he had done this thousands of times. _That is probably because he has._

By the time my mother came rushing in with the small cup of crushed ice Phil had moved onto examining my stomach. "Sorry it took so long, I had to find something to crush the ice with since they only had cubes of ice."

"Thanks mom, this is perfect," and it was the few slivers of ice instantly melted in my mouth giving way to a trickling of cool wetness down my throat. Phil allowed me some time to eat some of my ice chips before continuing with his exam.

My stomach looked a little better under the bandages than my arm had, just one curved line going horizontally across my entire belly. Phil nodded and smiled, "these can definitely come out now, it can make scars worse it you leave them in too long."

"Is she going to get a scar?" My mother asked in a worried tone. Suddenly worried about my ability to wear a bikini? Phil gave her a dirty look, I guess she must have forgotten that he was in the business of scars. It was the job of the plastic surgeon to make sure there were no scars. He quickly snipped the small sutures before pulling them out with the tweezers, this was followed by some thick yellow ointment and fresh bandages that were a lot thinner than the ones on my arm.

I was awake for most of the day, Phil had not been exaggerating about the fact that they would let me stay awake but I still had enough meds to make me feel a little bit drunk. The human blood they had given me had seriously slowed my ability to heal, so I had to do this the old fashioned way.

"This really sucks." Was my grumbling complaint when Phil explained this to me. I was tired, cranky and in pain; but at least Esme had given me a toothbrush and I had been able to take care of that issue.

He simply laughed. "Yeah poor baby, most of us get to live like this everyday."

So it might have been childish to stick my tongue out at him, but sometimes it was the only way to deal with Phil.

"Red blood cells last about three months so you might want to take that into consideration when you are making future plans. Especially when coming back to visit your family. " He told me quietly, my mother had gone home for a change of clothes now that it looked like I was doing better, but she had promised to come back in a few hours. It was nice being able to give up on the pretense that Phil knew nothing.

"Did you guys find Joham?" It might be easier to find him now that we knew who this crazy "doctor" actually was.

"Regrettably we can't seem to locate him, it looks like you scared him into hiding. I cannot see him surfacing for the next couple of months. One of my uncles is keeping an eye on the Volturi to see if he tries to make contact." Phil sighed and rubbed his face with both hands, it really must bug him having so little control over the situation.

I could already tell that Phil was going to be a little smothering, especially since my healing ability was almost comparable to a human's. I could not blame Phil for being protective, had it not been for his quick actions I would more than likely be dead right about now. My heart had stopped beating, I had lost too much blood and there was venom in my arm. My pack would not have been able to save me, they simply did not have the skills or the resources to do so.

I did not like the morbid places my thoughts were going, Phil must have read something in my face because he got up from the chair he had been sitting in and walked around the bed to my right side.

"Move over." He said as he picked up some of the IV's still hooked up to my arm. He was not really expecting me to move over, his words were simply a warning that he was going to join me on the bed, the only movement I had to make was to place my head on his shoulders.

Only after I had made myself comfortable on his muscular chest did it occur to me that it had been nearly a week since the last time I showered. A year ago this probably would have bothered me, but right now I needed to be held. Anyway, Phil was a big boy and he could tell me to go shower, at least my teeth were clean.

"So how do you think my mother would react if she came back to find you in bed with me?" I started to giggle at the thought of my mother freaking out, but my laughter was soon interrupted by a sharp pain in my stomach. The muscles in my abdomen did not appreciate being used.

"Which is one of the many reasons I argued with her over the ridiculous plan to take you back to her house." Phil shook his head, while I inhaled the scent of citrus and sage. It was fast becoming my very favorite smell, so I focused on that instead of the lovely scents coming off of my sticky skin. He had taken a shower recently and changed his clothes, he must have jumped home to do it because the vampire stench had not inundated his clothes.

"It is kind of funny seeing my mother have to back down to someone, especially since she sees you as her junior. But try not to hurt her feelings too much." It would be best to ease my mother into this, she had been the one to take care of me for the past twenty years and would not appreciate someone else coming in to her how her 'job'.

"Leah, I don't care whose feelings I have to hurt so long as you are safe." I got the impression that he would hurt more than feelings if it came to my well being. "Plus I would feel like an old pervert, sneaking into some young girl's bedroom."

I could not help but laugh again as I pictured him trying to fit through my small bedroom window, or better yet my mother's reaction if she found him there. "You know I could put my hair up in pigtails, and there might be an old plaid skirt in the back of my closet. Just to make it authentic for you."

Phil chose to ignore my last comment. "If it had been up to me you would not have ever left the island, but we need to keep up the story." There was a great deal of regret in his voice, it must upset him to take me away from the perfect safety of the island and bring me back to Earth. According to Seth who had come by to visit a few hours ago before heading back out for patrols there had been a great deal of blood in and around the cabin, I could not have gotten away with telling people I was only lightly hurt.

"Mother would have been insane with worry if she could not find me. Or worse yet if I showed up a few hours late perfectly healed you know Sam would have been suspicious, he can be like a dog with a bone. He would not forget about it until he knew everything." The annoyance of having to stay at the Cullen's house was worth being able to alleviate my mother's worry just a little bit, it helped that Carlisle and Esme were the only ones in residence.

My mother had enough to worry about in the past year and if I was being honest with myself a big portion of that had been due to my actions, this was the least I could do.

"After you are healed enough to leave here we can go back to the island. Stay there for a few months while you get back to normal." Phil interrupted my thoughts.

"I wish, but there is this pesky little thing called reality. I have to finish school, and then there is my job. What about your job, won't they notice if you don't show up?" It would have been nice to get away from it all. The trying to balance the "normal" life with the supernatural one was getting to be harder every day. It had been much easier when I lived on the Rez and was able to tell my mom that I could not come in to work, but my current boss would not be as sympathetic to my plight. In fact he would probably try to have me committed if I explained the problem to him.

Phil had the most amazing laugh, especially when you were listening to it start deep down inside of him. Because of my position on his chest I could hear it bubble up before it burst out. "Leah you are thinking like a mortal. Would you like to know how we immortals live our lives?"

I risked hurting my stomach and shifted a little bit to look up at him. He had a somewhat mischievous light in his eyes, one that meant he was up to no good.

"For certain reasons I won't get into time on the island only flows forward, you can never go back. But outside of there we can manipulate the flow of time to go forwards, backwards, or even to pause. We can move through time like most people walk down the street. So we are capable of stepping out of time, we simply go to the island. We stay there for a few weeks or a few years and then we step back into the life we had left behind, to the humans around us we were only gone a few days."

I had been informed of the fact that time moved differently on the island, but for some reason it had never occurred to me that they were doing it deliberately. It was hard wrapping my head around this concept, so did they just get bored and take a vacation from life at any point? No wonder they lost track of how old they really were. Phi's face was serious, he was giving me the option to do this, the temptation to give into this offer was hard to resist.

"We could leave this world behind for just a little bit, do whatever you wanted and there would be no vampires to worry about, or secrets to hide. You could be completely and utterly free." He was crooning into my ear now, trying to convince me to do as he wished. His warm breath against the delicate skin behind my ear was giving me other ideas, finally we could go to a place where we could be alone without interruptions.

Looking at his face I came to realize that he was not only tempting me with this offer, it would be a treat for him as well. How hard it must have been all those months of being my friend and not being able to be his true self? When he told me the story of his youth, had he not admitted to having learned to be content in only telling half the truth? Did I want him content or would I want him to be true to himself? Here was the opportunity for both of us to be together without having to hide things, would he allow all of his masks to slip away? I could get to know the man who I was starting to suspect was becoming necessary for my survival.

For a moment I was scared, why had I allowed myself to become dependent on another man? Had I not learned my lesson the first time? But it was wrong for me to compare Phil and Sam. Phil was a man who would be my partner in all my endeavors, ready to support me in whatever I wished to do. Sam had been a boy struggling under the heavy weight of responsibility, he was too busy fighting to keep his head above water to be able to help me.

"As much as I would like to take you up on your offer I still have finals to get through in a couple of weeks. I would be afraid of forgetting everything if I went off to play for a few months." I hated to refuse, but there really was no other choice.

"So we will do it after finals, you should be healed enough by then that no one could get suspicious." He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead before he continued. "There is a great deal of responsibility that goes along with being part of the supernatural world. So let me show you one of the perks." He moved his eyebrows up and down sort of like a villain from one of the old black and white movies. The part just before he makes off with the virtuous maiden - well as the saying went, you can't rape the willing.

"After finals we will sneak away for a little bit." I promised him, maybe we could find that deserted island he kept talking about. I leaned back on him and decided to take a little nap before my mother came back and took my pillow away.

I was in the middle of a dream about sandy beaches and Phil wearing nothing but a pair of cutoff jeans when something woke me up. Someone was going to pay for waking me up especially since I had just gotten to the part where I was about to unbutton those pants. Maybe if I kept my eyes closed they would go away and I could go back to undressing Phil, if only in my dreams.

"I am sorry Leah did I wake you?" A quiet voice apologized from inside the room.

"That is obvious mother, since she was asleep when you got here and is now awake." Phil sounded more upset than me.

_ Great now the family is interrupting my dream seduction of Phil. It was not enough that they interrupted us in real life._ Grumbling nonsense under my breath to distract myself, I tried to come up with the enthusiasm to greet Tam, Phil's mom.

It took me a moment to notice that she looked completely different from last time, her hair was not the same color and it was missing the vibrant highlights. If I did not know any better I would say she dyed her hair to cover up the grey hairs but that was not possible since she was immortal and did not age. Unlike last time now her face had a few wrinkles that I was certain were not there before, she actually looked old enough to be Phil's mother. There was one thing I noted that amused me enough to almost forgive her for interrupting my dream. She must be doing that glamour thing to make herself look older. "I must say you age very gracefully."

"My dear, if one must age you might as well do it with well." She told me with a twinkle in her eye, but this was quickly replaced with concern. "Oh Leah, we were so worried about you, is there anything I can do for you?"

I sighed and gave into the inevitable, Phil's pants would unfortunately have to stay buttoned. I looked up into his green eyes and wondered if he knew what I was thinking, maybe concentrating would send him my thoughts. I pictured unbuttoning his pants while staring deep into his eyes.

It was obvious when he got my message, his eyes got bigger and there was a faint flush on his cheeks. He did not move his head but his eyes looked around me, I felt my own cheeks start to heat up. Phil was not the only mind reader in the room.

"I will head down to the kitchen and see if I can make something to eat for everyone. Do you want me to make you some soup? It is always good to begin with liquid diet when it comes to stomach wounds." She was halfway out the door before she had asked her question, not even waiting long enough to hear my answer.

"Well that was awkward," I told Phil with a small embarrassed smile. "She must think I am a total slut."

"I would not say it like that." He told me with a smirk, there was some joke I was missing.

"Oh god...what does she think of me?" Maybe she would convince Phil I was all wrong for him.

"Unless I miss my guess you are about to be coddled and spoiled to the best of her ability. My brother is not bound to anyone and because of that you are her best bet for grandchildren." He quickly explained, when he saw the panic in my face.

His explanation did not alleviate my fears, in fact it only made them worse. What if I could not have kids? Family was so important to these people, I would hate to disappoint them. Regardless of all that I was not ready to have kids yet.

"Leah we are not talking about having kids right now, this is sometimes in the future, like we have millennia to fulfill this request." He soothingly rubbed my back as he encouraged me to lay back down on his chest.

"Oh," was my lame answer. I guess when he put it like that, we would have centuries to figure it out. My fears alleviated I let Phil take me back into his arm and reassure me, mainly because despite my nap I was still tired.

Over the next few days I healed and allowed myself to be spoiled by both my mother and Phil's mother. When I had been told about the mainly a liquid diet because of the damage to my stomach I had been extremely displeased to say the least - Phil had been wise enough about making sure that I was well fed. He even resorted to bribery at one point, promising me homemade strawberry milkshakes if I held out for a few more days.

Phila really came through for me and arranged everything with my professors at school, she brought me not only my textbooks and notes but also the lecture notes from the classes I had missed. Fortunately for me my biology lab was the only thing I would truly miss, but since I had perfect attendance before now I got to drop one lab grade.

* * *

A week later we moved back to the house in Seattle, my mother had protested about it until Tam reassured her she would be staying with me the entire time. Phil went back to work and I got the ultimate babysitter, Tamora took her duty seriously. She even went with me to class to make sure I would be safe, not that I could have driven there by myself. My left arm was still a little sensitive, Carlisle was hypothesizing that there was something about the venom that interfered with my wolf abilities.

The hardest part about going back to my "normal" life was Jenny. She was shocked when she first saw my arm in the sling. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I kind of fell a cliff, and hurt myself" This was the story we had come up with, and it could have happened that way. There were a lot of sharp rocks around the Rez.

"Are you sure you are all right? Should you not be in the hospital or something?" It was so hard to lie to your friends, even when it was for the best. I was gland when the teacher started the lecture so that I could pretend that my recent absence meant history class needed my full attention.

Finals were really tough, I sort of ignored everything but getting through them. I think I would probably not have gotten regular meals had Tam not been forcing me to sit down and eat at the right intervals.

"You really want those grandchildren." I had joked one time as Tamora placed a plate full of food on top of the notes I was trying to read.

"Leah, you cannot begin to comprehend how different my son has become since meeting you. He was content with life before, but now he is happy. Taking care of you will keep him sane, and it really is not that big of a chore. It is nice to get to know the woman my son has chosen." She was giving me a full smile, it was very obvious that Phil had inherited the dimples from her.

"I thought the spirit chose me?" At least that is what I had been told.

"The spirit may have pointed you out to him, but in the end it was Phil who picked." She patted my arm gently before she sat down on the couch in my office. I would be supervised to make sure the meal was finished, or she could just want to get to know me a little better.

"I am glad to get to know you as well." I told her the truth, it was nice to learn more about Phil and where he came from. Maybe he had been right, maybe it does take a couple of centuries to truly get to know someone.

The day after finals I called my mother to tell her that I would not be coming home right after finals. In fact I would probably spend most of the summer in Seattle, she was none too pleased but I told her there were some summer courses I wanted to take to make up for the fact that I started school a semester late. She reluctantly agreed that my education was important.

"So are you ever coming back home?" She had asked in a quiet voice.

I did not say anything for a minute, I wanted to make sure to formulate my answer in a way that she would understand. "Mother, I appreciate what you did for me and that will always be my home. But I need to move on, there are too many painful memories associated with that area. I wasted too much time on them already. Other than you and Seth there is nothing for me to go back to, my life is here."

"With Phil." She told me, there was a great deal of concern in her voice. "The man you have not imprinted on."

She had made a statement, but I chose to treat it like a question. "There are times when I will rely on my wolf instincts and there are times when I have to be a human being and just trust my own judgement."

"So you are staying in Seattle because of Phil," it could have been just the connection but there might have been a slight bitterness in her voice.

"Phil has something to do with it, but there are other things as well. If things go according to plan then right after I get my bachelor's degree, I can go to graduate school and there is a really good Native American history program here. This would be a good way for me to help preserve our history and teach others about it as well." When you are stuck in a bed, especially after a near death experience, you tend to think a lot about your future.

"I am very proud of you Leah, you have to understand that. I know you will succeed if this is what you want to do. But you have to know I will really miss you." She sounded both proud and sad at the same time. "Are you sure you are all right? Are you getting enough to eat?"

I could not help laughing. "Don't worry mother, Tam has been watching over me like a hawk. Making sure I finish all my dinner, and that I get enough sleep - I was surprised she did not try to brush my teeth for me. Seriously though, my arm is now completely healed, you can barely see a faint pink scar. Phil says it will be gone in a few days time." To my relief, slowly but surely the underlying muscle was healing as well - that was now my main reason for the sling.

"About Phil, what does he know? What have you told him?" My mother asked the question I had been hoping to avoid.

"I never came out and told him everything," this was not necessary because he had always known the truth. "But he would have to be blind and stupid not to suspect something."

"Has he said anything?" My mother asked suddenly worried on my behalf. "What if he finds out and..."

She could not say it but what she meant was that she was afraid he would leave me if he ever found out all the truth. How could I reassure her that would not happen without telling her the truth. "Mother, sometimes you just have to trust a person. If my bitchiness when he first met me did not scare him away I somehow doubt me turning into a wolf will." I stopped to giggle for a moment. "Seriously mother, Phil is not the type of man to abandon me for something like that. And if he did I am sure Tamora would be happy to help me kick his ass."

My mother did not question me too much further, I don't know if it was my firm belief in Phil's love or the fact that she was letting me make my own mistakes. Not long after that she made a half-hearted attempt to get me to come back to the Rez for the summer but I could tell she really did not mean it.

The conversation with my mother made me more thankful that I was going off on with Phil for a few months, I could avoid conversations with her that required my constant vigilance regarding what I said to her. I did not bother packing for the little adventure since I had a closet full of brand new clothes in my room on the island.

Instead I waited impatiently for Phil to come home, pacing back and forth in my sitting room. Looking at the clock I realized Phil would not be back for another four hours, I really needed to find something to do with myself.

I was in the middle of putting all my class notes from the entire semester into a box when I heard the familiar sound of Phil's heartbeat behind me.

"Hi there," I told him turning around and giving him a quick kiss.

"Here let me get that box for you, I told you not to lift anything too heavy until your arm if fully healed." He chided me as he took the box away from me.

"You are back early." There was a huge smile on my face, it was nice when he came home early since most of the time he came home later than his schedule dictated.

"One of my surgeries got cancelled, they found something wrong with the patient, we sent her to cardiology instead." He smiled down at me as he carried the box up to the attic.

"Are you ready?" He asked me pulling out his silver tab, and starting the calculations.

"Sure why not?" I shrugged, but my attempts at appearing calm were ruined by the nervous tapping of my foot. This really was the way to travel, no luggage, no having to check and make sure you did not leave the stove on.

The meadow was almost unrecognizable when we got there, the snow was completely gone to be replaces by some sparse grasses as well as small white and purple flowers.

"Ooh these are pretty." I bend down to touch one lightly, it was then that I noticed that there were what seemed to be stepping stones all over the clearing.

"Crocuses, they bloom later here in the forest because we are at a higher elevation and it stays colder longer." Phil explained as we started walking, there was no surprise birthday party so we took the path straight for his home. Since my last visit things had changed drastically, winter had turned into spring. Well I had technically been here a few weeks ago but I don't remember much about that time.

I walked through the woods with wonder, when mother nature finally woke up these woods she certainly outdid herself. The sounds of insects was almost overwhelming as large fat bumblebees buzzed around us gathering pollen from the newly opened flowers, their back legs were so coated with the stuff that you could not see the black anymore.

"I have never heard this many animals, even in the middle of the woods on the Reservation." The entire forest had woken up and they were very busy going on about their business.

"We try to impact the environment as little as possible, and since there are so few of us living on this entire planet it is almost like a wild place. This is what earth would look like if humans had not been around." Phil's words made me look around the forest a little more. Was this the way things looked even my people settled down in the region?

It took us longer than normal to reach his home, when I started to apologize for stopping every few steps to check on something new he casually leaned against a tree.

"Don't worry about it Leah, it is not like we are rushing someplace. This is a vacation, there are no alarm clocks here." Phil was giving me a smile, it was not that hard to figure out my absolute hatred for that annoying sound in the morning.

His talks of alarm clocks made me remember something, I stopped my examination of a perfect little snowdrop and gave him a look filled with suspicion. "Did you have anything to do with the fact that my alarm clock never worked last December?"

Phil did not even bother looking ashamed, he gave a small shrug, "you were making yourself sick, and Phila and I took your patrols for you."

"It would have been nice to have known that back then." I gave him another mock glare before going back to my admiration of the pristine world around me.

It took a lot longer for us to get to the house because of my utter distraction, luckily Phil was the patient sort. I finally sat down on one of his barstools in the kitchen as I watched him prepare a quick dinner. "So what do you want to do now?" He asked me with his smile.

For a moment I was stumped, I had spent the past couple of weeks looking forward to coming here and getting away from all the demands that were a part of being an adult. Most of my life there was always something that I needed to do; wether it was helping my parents out at their business, running patrols, school or my job at the restaurant. It was strange not having something that needed to be done, I was almost lost.

"That is all right, we will figure it out together as we go along. Do you know anything about surfing?" He told me as he placed a plate of food in front of me.

"Uh no?" There were some kids that did it around us, but the only thing I had ever done was boogie board.

"Want to learn?" He asked me with a brilliant smile. It was only now I realized how worried he had been about my well being, it almost seemed like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It must have taken everything he had not to let me finish my finals instead of grabbing me and bringing me back here where it was safe.

I looked at his now excited eyes and saw my future; I did not really care what we did, so long as we did it together. "Sure."

* * *

A/N: All right everyone can calm down, Phil saved the day and Leah is all in one piece. I know someone wanted the Cheesecake recipe, you will have to remind me who it was.

ABarbieStory: You can call Kendrick a Beefy boo if you wish, and I would guess that he would have been very disturbed about the fact that Leah was hurt. Sorry she is not coming back in ghost form, though that would have been interesting.

ASH186: See she did not die, Phil got to her in time and does not have to be heartbroken. He even managed to talk her into going to the very safe island for a while, I am telling you now it is not only because of her safety :D cough lemons, cough.

Lea: Glad you liked the chapters, there was no twist Phil just got lucky and got to her in time. It was a good thing he was not getting bad Karma from cheating at chess.

Jaime2772: I promise, promise, promise you there will be a whole fruit salad in the next chapter. Not just a little zest :D, the only problem is that sex scenes usually take me longer to write because I am ultimately a prude and to me they are really hard to write. Not that I don't like reading them, that is the furthest thing from the truth, and I was seriously pissed off with the Breaking Dawn bit from SM...three and a half books of foreplay and we get fade to black? I wanted my money back. Seriously can we ask her to write the adult version of that chapter?

Ms Animegoddess: See no need to be scared, everything turned out all right. Family dinner with Sue will have to wait a little bit longer. Next we are doing alone time with Leah and Phil cue the raunchy stripper music.


	32. Lemon Zest

A/N: I would just like to point out that this is a mature rated story, aka there might be a little graphic lemon this chapter so if you don't want to read it here is the G version:

~.~

Phil and Leah enjoyed a sunny day while playing ummmm let us just say Go Fish together, Leah really enjoyed herself. She even learns little bit about him, including what his favorite color is - pink, in case you are wondering.

~.~

Now onto what really happened.

* * *

31- Lemon Zest

Dinner was a quiet affair. Quite frankly the sudden shift from study, eat, and sleep all in that order of priority to this complete lack of structure was somewhat disconcerting. This stepping out of time for a while might take some getting used to, not that I was complaining, after nearly a year of constant patrol or work being a lazy bum sounded kind of nice.

I spent most of dinner staring out the large back window of the kitchen, the melting snow had revealed several empty planting beds as well as some low shrubs. What looked like some outdoor furniture had appeared as well, I would investigate the back garden more thoroughly at another time. The plants on this side of his fence could be found on the other side as well. It did not look like Phil spent much time on his backyard, he seemed to prefer the greenhouse on the top floor.

Phil did not say anything during the small meal of cheese, bread and some only sound that could be heard was the clink of the knives against the plates.

"How is your arm?" Phil asked finally breaking the silence as I helped him clean up the remains of dinner.

I flexed my left arm a little to test it, I had not recovered my full strength but I could still beat any human in an arm wrestling contest. "It is getting better every day, hell almost every hour." I had left off the sling after coming home from my last exam this morning.

"Do not hesitate to tell me if there is something wrong, there are several specialists currently on the island if we need their services. Most of them don't sleep all that much so we can call them day or night." Phil's wide forehead was crinkled in concern.

"I am mostly over my fight with the vampires, however the final exam attack might take me a little longer to recover from." It was barely dusk and I was already yawning, I needed to catch up on my sleep. "I think I will go shower and head to bed early tonight."

"All right, good night then," Phil told me with concern still apparent in his expression.

"Relax or you will worry yourself into an early grave," I told him with a small laugh as I headed upstairs to my room. It was exactly as I left it, some of my birthday gifts were still in the middle of my sitting room. During my previous stay I had acquired several large pieces of furniture but Phil's prediction of my death had kind of soured my mood and I had not rearranged the new furniture to my liking.

"There will be plenty of time to do that later," I told myself with a small shake of my head. Going into the large bathroom I walked past the shower and instead headed for the bathtub, a nice soak sounded great right about now.

The well stocked bathroom yielded not one but three different bottles of bubble bath, I picked the one that smelled more citrusy - a scent that I would from now on associate with Phil and comfort.

It did not take but a few minutes to fill the tub with steaming hot water, adding a generous dose of the bubble liquid I stripped out of clothes. With a hiss I lowered myself into the hot sudsy water, the temperature was almost a little too warm but it helped loosen the tight muscles in my neck and shoulders. Leaning back and resting my head against the wide rim of the tub I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh. The wide tub must have been made for two because I could comfortably stretch out my long legs.

I let myself just soak in the heated water for a few minutes, trying to let all the stress and tension seep out of my muscles. The past few weeks had been hell on both my body and mind; between the damage the leech had done to my body and the cramming for finals that had wreaked havoc on my brain it was only sheer stubbornness that had allowed me to make it through. Well stubbornness and Tamora making sure that I ate all my meals. After the constant activity of the previous two weeks I was having somewhat of a hard time relaxing, hell this past year had been nothing but one reason to stress after another.

The large bubble floated around me like the clouds in the sky, big fluffy and white - the way I liked the clouds that floated around my dream castle. A little over a year ago I would have the eating dinner with my parents, Seth, and quite possibly Sam. Back then my dreams would have revolved around getting my teaching degree and going back to the Rez with Sam to eventually get married.

So much had changed over the past year, my father was now gone, the thought of settling down with Sam sounded more like a nightmare than a dream to me. Even if there were no such things as vampires and werewolves Sam and I would not have lasted long after we graduated from high school. After starting college I quickly discovered that I had ambitions and was willing to work very hard to reach my goals, some of my class mates were not so industrious. Some like Jenny went to school to see the world before they returned back to whatever little bumpkin hole they had crawled out of; others went to school because that is what you were supposed to do after high school. They had no goals or plans; they were playing at being a grown-up, all the privileges without any of the responsibilities. It could have been that I was a couple years older than most of my classmates, or it could have been that I had somehow survived what I affectionately referred to as my year from hell but for some reason I was nothing like the children around me. So maybe I was wrong in my thinking and if it was not for the wolf thing Sam and I might still be together - I shuddered at the prospect. If I was a human I would have have stayed safely on the sidewalk instead of jumping on the back of the bike with Phil. The thought of missing out on my sexy, sweet and funny bad boy was depressing. Instead I would be stuck in a relationship with Sam, maybe we would have stayed together simply because that is what was expected of us - high school sweethearts and all that crap.

All that was irrelevant now, Sam was finally married to Emily. The wedding ceremony had only been delayed by a few hours, it had gone of without a hitch at least if you ignored the fact that one of the groomsmen had to sit out because I was missing from the lineup. I was told that Emily and Sam wanted to put it off while I recovered but much to my delight it was really not up to them. It had been too late to cancel their plans, everyone had already come and they were all expecting to see the two of them get married. For some reason announcing that one of the bridesmaids had been attacked and nearly killed by a vampire was not a good option, so they made some excuse for my absence and went on with the ceremony. Not that I was complaining about being left out, if it had not hurt so much I would have congratulated myself on finding the perfect way to get out of the wedding. I was not one to give that much of a crap about my clothes, I had worn some pretty awful cast offs in the past year. However, that puke green bridesmaid dress was just god awful, and Jodie had been serious about adding some padding to the bust. It might have looked nice in moderation but Jodie had decided to go over the top, instead of tastefully enhancing my small bust line the padding made me look huge and lopsided. Even my mother looked properly horrified when she saw me standing there in the dress during my final fitting.

Sam had stopped by to visit me while I was still at the Cullen house, he looked nervous as the extremely polite Esme escorted him to my room. The presence of vampires was probably the main reason why he had not brought Emily with him.

Phil was sitting with me at the time of Sam's visit, but that was not an unusual thing for him to be doing. Apparently Sam had not been informed of this little fact and I could practically see his jaw dropping open when he noticed Phil caressing my right wrist in a way that was a little too intimate to be a friendly touch.

For a minute or so Sam sat there gaping like a fish before he recovered his ability to speak. "You had better take care of our Leah or I will come after you." Sam growled out, never once taking his eyes off of the spot where Phil's thumb moving up on down.

My amusement at his original surprised expression faded and I opened my mouth ready to rip him a new one. _Seriously did he just have the gal to threaten Phil and over hurting me?_ This is coming from the guy who hurt me worse than anyone else in my entire life? My hands started shaking in anger, I was going to rip his balls off. Phil must have felt my sudden fury because he quickly ran his thumbs across my clenched fist in an attempt to calm me.

"Take care of her as well as you did?" Phil asked in a cold emotionless voice throwing one dismissive glance in Sam's direction. Phil looked back at me after that question, Sam had been judged as unimportant and might as well not been in the room as far as Phil was concerned.

Wow I really loved the man, and his ability to take people down with a couple of words and a look was impressive to say the least. Sam quickly figured out that he was not wanted and did not stick around for long. Before his hasty departure he thanked me for saving Emily and Claire. The fact that I did not really notice when Sam exited the room was enough to tell me how little influence he had on me. Though it might have just been the fact that I was trying to lure Phil back into bed with me, he made the most comfortable pillow especially since his scent helped mask the stench of vampire that surrounded me. The Cullens, especially Carlisle were starting to grown on me, but that did not make them smell any better. Regardless of all that my ties with Sam and Emily had been completely severed, no longer was I under any obligation to see or speak with them.

I had not been exaggerating when I told my mother there was nothing left for me at the Rez, other than her and Seth. My future lay elsewhere, and more than likely that elsewhere was right here. Would this home be the one that I would one day share with Phil?

Phil had never come out and said it but there were enough hints and examples around me to understand what binding meant in this family. Forever, if that is what I wanted. The choice was completely mine, but once I made the decision to truly join this family there would be no turning back - there would be no walking away from this supernatural life and I would be expected to take on the responsibilities like everyone else around me.

So this vacation would still involve some sort of work, Phil and I would have to knock out the finer details of our relationship. Ever since Phil had left me a white rose indicating his eternal love things had come to a standstill. It was like he was determined to be a perfect gentleman, other than that one time when we played on the couch the most we did was make out. It was the right thing to do initially, it gave me the opportunity to get to know him without adding the physical relationship into the mess.

Things had changed, it had taken me a few times of being knocked around by some leeches but I finally figured out my place in Phil's life. I was ready for him to stop being such a nice guy and move our physical relationship forward. I did not want him to keep his distance, in fact I was not sure I wanted to have my own set of rooms. How was I to explain this to Phil? I could do something super embarrassing like taking off all my clothes and sitting naked in his lap; that might get his attention.

My bath was spent pondering ways of trying to get things to move along in the right direction. There was the obvious plan of wearing really sexy underwear, thanks to Phil's aunt I had a plethora to choose from. The only major flaw was that he would not be able to see it because as far as I knew he did not have x-ray vision.

I could try to wear more revealing clothing, but since that was not how I normally dressed my fears of looking ridiculous were not unfounded. He had told me on previous occasions that my ass was perfect, so that would be a possibility. Maybe wearing a short skirt with sexy underwear and 'accidentally' dropping something so that I could bend over to pick it up. That plan had some merit but I would have to time it perfectly right, with my luck his father would stop by for a visit just in time to see my lace thong.

I giggled a little bit as I thought of Phil's communication methods, he had been using flowers. The bracelet was surprisingly resilient and had managed to survive not one but two vampire attacks, I was now kind of suspecting that Phil had used some sort of alien technology to keep it together. I lifted my wrist and looked at the small white rose that had been added to my growing collection of flowers. I wondered if there was something in the language of flowers that said I want to jump your bones.

The next morning I overslept, the sun was getting close to its zenith when I rolled out of be. My my body had needed the extra sleep, I felt like a new person as I stretched my well rested muscles. Upon further examination I noted that my left arm looked perfectly healed, the dent that had been there from the spot that Phil had cut out was now completely filled in. Brushing my teeth quickly I did not bother taking my pajamas off, I was hungry as a wolf - and yes the pun was intended.

The kitchen was empty, so I made myself some granola with yogurt while I tried to decide what else to eat for breakfast. Grabbing my bowl I walked over to the backdoor, it was too beautiful a day to be inside anyway. Flinging open the door I looked around for any sign of Phil. A small metal table and two chairs sat under a tree, a small pathway made out of some pretty looking gravel led the way to the table. The stones were not at all uniform and the bright sunshine brought out all sorts of colors in the small pebbles. The table was shaded by a large tree, or it would have been large had it not been for the behemoths that grew right outside the fence. I placed my food on the table before sitting down and looking above small green leaves looked newly formed and perfect, they had not unfurled completely and a small amount of green hued sunlight was able to make it through.

It was here that Phil found me when he came walking around the house, in his arms was a large basket that seemed to be filled with dead plant matter. "Morning, Princess," he called out when he noticed my presence. He was certainly in a good mood this morning and utterly relaxed, I had not seen him this mellow since before the first vampire attack. It was a good thing that he did not age because my poor luck would probably have given him several grey hairs by now.

"You look completely stress free. Have you been smoking pot again?" I teased him with a smile as he propped his basket next to the tree and came to sit in the chair on the other side of me.

"No but I did finally get a couple of good hours sleep last night," he explained while trying to examine what was in my bowl.

"Hey get your own," I told him defending my granola by brandishing my spoon around. "What do you mean you got some sleep, have you not been sleeping?"

He started looking a little embarrassed for a moment, and I wondered why he would feel self-conscious about not being able to sleep. "I might have possibly been watching you sleep."

"Pervert," I told him, hoping that I had not pulled a Bella and talked in my sleep. Seriously my dreams the past couple of weeks had been extremely vivid, I had been afraid that while sleeping I would relive the nightmare of that vampire attack but my mind had other ideas. My nights had been filled with dreams of Phil and all the lovely things we could do to each other, it kind of amazed me that I had not even seen him naked because in my fantasies I had ripped his clothes off time and again. _Maybe that is your subconscious trying to give you a hint._

A cool breeze blew Phil's smell in my direction, layered upon his usual scent was the aroma of outdoors and fresh sweat. I don't know why but I loved the smell of sweat on Phil, maybe it was the fact that it made him seem more male - not that he needed help in that department. Sweat on others was not always pleasant, but Phil was generally very fastidious about his hygiene and so he never smelled of that rancid and nasty sweat like other people. Suddenly my mind supplied all the ways that I could make him sweat even more. My body reacted quickly to the scenarios that were running through my head.

I opened my mouth intent on making some flirting remark that would encourage him to make his moves, "so where exactly are we going surfing?" _Leah Clearwater you are such a coward, just say it - I want sex. What is the worst that can happen?_

"There are several places to surf, it all depends on how confident you are and how crazy you want to get." He looked up from my bowl after realizing it was empty of food, seriously he liked to eat almost as much as I did.

Anger at my own cowardice suddenly consumed me. This was getting ridiculous, I was an adult, he was an adult, and sex was a completely normal thing to want. _Why can't you just say it Leah?_

Looking away from the direct gaze of his green eyes I watched as a small bird landed on his fence, its mouth filled with freshly dug worms. Someone baby bird was going to enjoy a tasty lunch today. I took an unnecessary breath as I gathered my courage, my cheeks flooded with heat probably turning a fiery red. "So can you surf on an island." I risked a quick look at him, my suggestion was not as direct as I would have wished but I hoped he would understand the deserted island reference. He is the one that kept promising me we could find that place where none of his family could interrupt.

"Well technically you surf in the water not on an island, but really it depends on the beaches of the place, there are..." he stopped in the middle of the sentence. The spoon he had been playing with fell out of his fingers clattering to the ground. Phil seemed not to notice that he had dropped my spoon, instead he turned that brilliant green gaze straight at me. His eyes were fully open, I watched as the pale green of his iris almost completely disappeared as his dark pupils dilated. I had hear the description that someone's eyes were on fire but I had never seen it before, Phil's eyes were scorching as they met mine.

The past couple of weeks we had never been alone, either his mother or mine were constantly with us. Then Phil had gotten busy with work while I started getting ready for my finals, we had not spent any time together since before I had gotten hurt. Not since I admitted to myself that I loved him.

Phil had been leaning across the table almost like he was trying to get closer to me but suddenly he pulled back. Phil looked a little uncertain for a moment, that was definitely not his usual look. Maybe I needed to give him a stronger hint?

"What is wrong?" I asked him quietly looking up into his light green eyes.

"I am trying to figure out if I heard you right or if this is wishful thinking on my part." He spoke softly, almost like he was talking to himself.

A small laugh escaped my lips, it was strange seeing Phil question himself since most of the time he was completely confident in all his actions. Maybe I had messed up because he did not seem to have any clue regarding how attractive I found him to be. Did he not know how much I wanted him right now? I was going to have to come out and say it. I leaned down to pick up the fallen spoon before depositing it safely in my bowl. The table was small but it was too far away from my taste right now, I gathered my courage and stood up only to place myself in his lap. Phil was always quick in understanding the situation, he rapidly shifted his long legs to accommodate my sudden need to use him as a chair. His long fingers came to rest on my hips, steadying me as I shifted around finding the most comfortable spot. I was now surrounded by the scent of citrus and sage, for some reason this gave me the confidence to go for it.

Raising both of my hand and running them softly across his wide cheekbones I looked deep into those jewel green eyes of his. Doing this should have been much easier than killing two vampires, but for some reason I was much more afraid now.

"I love you." This was only the second time I had told him this, again he got that same goofy grin on his face. Before he got serious again.

"Do you mean it?" His voice sounded uncertain.

I looked at him confused, had I not told him I loved him before? "What do you mean do I mean it? I told you I loved you."

"When you were all drugged up... I thought that was just... well never mind. So you really mean it?"

I was getting angry, how could he not tell the difference between drug induced mumblings and the truth. "I figured out I loved you a while before the leeches kidnapped me."

He looked hopeful but cautions. "Then why did you not say anything beforehand?"

"Because I was afraid." In retrospect it was somewhat foolish.

"I love you, Princess, please never be afraid of telling me anything. Always and forever anything mine is yours." He gave me a soft kiss before lifting his arms and securing me a little tighter against his chest. I did not mind as I snuggled closer, his steady heartbeat with its funny little skip was comforting to me. When you compared him to some of the wolves Phil looked lean and but it was obvious that underneath his clothes Phil hid an amazingly fit body. One that I was determined to finally see and possibly touch.

Hmmm did he mean anything, anything? _Oh what the hell! At worst he can tell me no._

So I threw all caution to the wind and went for it. Was I not the girl who singlehandedly kicked the asses of two leeches and got damn close to killing a third? I reluctantly lifted my head from its comfy spot on Phil chest and looked him in the eye.

"I want sex, hot monkey sex, hanging form the chandeliers sex, the neighbors complain and call the police because there is so much screaming they think someone is being murdered sex, can't walk straight for the next week sex..." Phil's eyes turned wide and his jaw dropped, gaining confidence I decided to go for it and make all my demands. "I want to see you naked, and I want to be able to get a turn at playing with you. And if any of your family walks in they had better bring popcorn because there is going to be a show, or at least there will be if you would say something."

For a moment he looked like he did not know what to say, finally he managed to clamp his jaw shut. I was kind of proud of myself, I had managed to surprise the mind reading psychic.

"May I ask what has brought on this change? Not that I do not appreciate your demands." One of his hands had found its way underneath my shirt and was rubbing slow circles on my lower back, that small caress was causing goosebumps to erupt all over my body.

When I became a wolf large chunk of my femininity was lost, along with most of my self confidence. My body was comparable to a teenage boy, tall and lean made up of mostly arms and legs. My previously long hair had to be sheared off short for practical purposes, the same went for my nails. My former pretty clothes no longer fit, and my new ones were not really all that practical when I might have to shift at any moment. I could toss small cars around better than most people can throw a baseball. I had nothing by way of boobs, and even my periods stopped. Only the fact that I had to sit down to pee reassured me that I was still female.

Despite all this when Phil held me in his arms I felt pretty and dainty and like a woman. I looked up into his face, he had that look in his eyes - the one he would get when he did not think I was watching. All of his focus was be directed at me, his large dark eyebrows were drawn down almost like he was angry but that was not the case. The flaring of his nostrils, the rapid beating of his heart, and the pure fire in his eyes told me another story altogether. I had always wondered what it would be like to peel away the masks that Phil wore, to remove all those restraints that he had place on himself. It was suddenly becoming obvious that I might just get that wish, and see Phil for what he was without the rules of civility.

Phil's intense look was quickly shutting down all of my brian function, but one thing was obvious - I was not a mind reader but from the look in his eyes I was going to get what I wanted and more.

"I got tired of waiting for the future to begin, I want to live in it now." I tried to find the right words so that he would understand. "When I was dying in the cabin the only regret I had was that I had been too much of a coward to tell you how I felt."

We sat there for a few minutes silently, I might have been worried if it was not for the fact that he never broke eye contact. "Are you sure that this is what you want Leah because I have to warn you once we begin there will be no going back." His voice came out as a deep grumble, I had never heard it so low before.

My body reacted to his words, my nipples pebbling under the thin cotton of the extra large t-shirt I had slept in. I was pretty sure that my shorts were starting to get a little damp and if he kept talking using that voice they would be completely soaked in a minute or so. "I am sure," it was somewhat embarrassing how breathless my voice had become.

"All right on a more practical matter I know you don't want children right about now so birth control, I am on it...do you want to take something?"

"I trust you to take care of that, not that I have a period or anything," I told him slightly embarrassed to be talking about this, but I guess if I was willing to have sex with him I should be able to talk about birth control.

"Good, well I don't think the chandelier would support our combined weight. Other than that I would be happy to accommodate your requests." His dimpled smile had a hint of mischief in it. He did not give me a change to react to his bold statement instead he bend his head and sealed my mouth shut with his. Phil's kisses tended to start slow and sweet and eventually get to a more heated embrace; over the past month I had gotten used to this slow and steady build.

This time he did not begin with tenderness, he was not being a gentleman and asking for permission. Today he was going to take what he wanted by force if necessary, his kiss was all heat and fire. His agile tongue made wide, forceful sweeps into my mouth; I was given two choices one was to give in or I could fight this attack. Relaxing in his embrace I allowed his strong arms to wrap around me and mold me closer to his hard body, this felt too good to fight - whatever he wanted to do to me I was willing to concede. He smelled of citrus and sage and Phil a combination of scents that would have taken my breath away had he not already done that with his kiss. I let out a low moan as I rubbed my tongue against his, it should not have been possible but he tasted citrusy - sweet, tangy and of oranges. I lost what little control I might have left, shifting in his lap I straddled him pushing my hands into his hair and pulling the silky strands out of their bindings. The thin cotton of my shorts were not much of a barrier, I could feel the roughness of his jeans against my heated flesh. Rubbing myself against him I could feel the evidence of his arousal starting to get larger underneath me, the rough denim was not what I wanted to feel against my sensitive skin.

Reluctantly pulling away, I tried to catch my breath so that I could ask my question. "My room or yours?" my words came out as a gasp.

Phil's laugh was low and quick, the fire in his eyes had not dissipated at all. He shifted his hips lining himself up with me before giving a small thrust. I threw my head back and groaned as he found the right spot to rub. A minute or so more of this and I would have been able to cum right here in the middle of his garden. Not that I actually cared about who was about to watch, at this point someone could have been selling tickets to the show and I would have been all right so long as Phil continued to rub that hard ridge against me.

Phil attached his mouth to my neck nipping and licking the sensitive spot where my neck met my shoulders. "We...really...should...take...this...inside." He told me between bites down my neck.

"Sure," I told him not really paying attention what he was saying. Without warning my view of the garden shifted as Phil lifted me. He had his arms securely wrapped around me as he stood up. He was through the door in less than ten strides, there were several handy couches near the kitchen but to my surprise he did not stop next to one of them. At this point one of those couches looked good enough to play on, there was really no need to go all the way upstairs.

He shifted me in his arms as I wrapped my arms around him, brining my mouth closer the exposed skin on his neck. I followed his example and bit down on his neck, his neck must have been just as sensitive as mine because one little nip caused him to falter after a few steps, maybe it was not a good plan to do this while he was carrying me up the stairs. I reluctantly lifted my mouth away from his neck and looked up at his face. His wide jaw was locked tight, the muscles in his cheeks straining - it looked like I had finally got to him. I gave a little victorious smile as we turned and entered his rooms.

Only once before had I seen his rooms and that was only during a quick tour, we had never actually entered. The overstuffed leather couch theme with the built in bookshelves continued here as well. I got a quick glimpse of some oil paintings of landscapes and then we moved on.

It might have been the fact that we had stopped kissing and that gave me enough time to think or it might have been because we stepped into the large bedroom, but it finally dawned on me that I was going to have sex with Phil. Suddenly getting nervous I went through all the bad scenarios, what if I did something wrong?

I was half hoping that he would just throw me on the bed and have his way with me, I was never nervous when he was kissing me. Usually I was too busy feeling and trying to kiss him back. Phil of course never did the expected, instead of putting me on the bed he sat me on one of the wide side chairs next to the window. After gently depositing me on the chair he took several reluctant steps away from me. His hair was wild around his face from where I had repeatedly run my fingers through it, his cheeks were flushed, and I could hear his rapid heartbeat and breathing but all he did was stand there. The bed behind him was a huge fourposter monstrosity, definitely made for two - I took a deep soothing breath in and tried to shallow the nervous lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat.

"Now what was your first request? Oh yes you wanted me to get naked." It was now that I noticed he had somehow lost his boots between here and the kitchen. Not that I had much time to contemplate his missing footwear, in one fluid movement he pulled off his shirt and exposed his naked chest to me. I took in a deep breath and never released it, I had suspected that his chest would be hairless and the well sculpted muscles did not surprise me either. No, the part that shocked me to the point where all my nervousness was forgotten was the tiny silver bar that was inserted into his left nipple. The nipple piercing came as a complete shock, never had I suspected what was hiding under those t-shirts. The though of running my tongue around that tiny bit of silver brought back all of my previous excitement and then some. If I had known about his I would have fought much harder to get him naked, my little bad boy was going to pay for holding out on me.

"Anything else I should know about?" I asked him never taking my eyes off his chest, my voice sounded was shaking but at this point I did not care.

"Shall I continue?" Phil asked reaching for the button of his jeans, his voice did not sound that much more steady than mine had.

I followed the dark narrow band of hair down from his bellybutton to the spot where he was fiddling with the button of his jeans. "Stop being such a tease," I was watching like a hawk but he was not doing anything.

"I thought the point of this was to tease," he told me with a laugh but he quickly undid the button before pushing the zipper down. His upper body blocked my view as he pushed his pants all the way down, stepping forward he left both pants and socks behind. But I could appreciate the view of his wide shoulders and naked muscular back.

As he walked towards me completely naked I could not look at his parts, instead I decided to do some teasing of my own. My eyes moved down to where his toes were curling into the plush carpet he was currently strutting across, of course he had to have sexy feet but I had seen those before and they did not hold my interest long. I surveyed his long and lean calves next as they flexed and stretched with his movements, before coming to a halt a few feet from me. The jeans he usually wore had given some indication of the fact that Phil's thighs were huge and muscular but looking at them this close to me I was starting to wonder how he actually fit into said jeans. I spent some time going up and down the thighs with only my eyes, picturing running my fingers and tongue across those thick bands of muscle. I could see the muscle flexing under my gaze, almost as if he knew what I was plotting. It took me nearly a minute before I finally moved my eyes up to where I really wanted to look.

Nearly swallowing my tongue I stared with a great deal of awe at his very erect penis I realized my estimation of him had been wrong. From our occasional play I had known all along that he was well endowed, the length is not what shocked me, that part detail while impressive was not as surprising as the width of his penis. It was a darker color than the rest of his skin, I could see the pulsing veins on either side moving with the rhythm of his rapid heartbeat. I licked my lips wondering what he would taste like if I followed one of those veins up to the large head of his penis.

Glancing up I noticed the cocky little grin that had spread across his face as he slowly walked towards me. But I guess he had every right to be confident when he had that in his pants. I leaned back in my chair as he started moving closer, his long muscular arms settled on the sided of the chair effectively caging me in.

"So tell me Princess, do you like what you see?" His smug little smile was starting to make me a little nervous.

Well here we go Leah, time to man up so to speak and grab a hold of life. So that is what I did, smiling as innocently as possible I reached over and wrapped one hand around his thick dick. All it took was one tug to gain a reaction, the flush on his face increased as I could see his eyes practically rolling back into his head. I did not have much time to gloat at my success as Phil glared down at me for a second before swooping down and capturing my mouth in another drugging kiss.

All games were forgotten as I lifted my hands in order to run my fingers across his newly exposed flesh, hard and hot but silky soft. Very little by way of body hair meant that I could run my hands across his skin with little to no impediment. Walking my fingers past the rigid muscles of his abdomen I had enough though left to head towards that little bit of silver that had originally held my attention. He groaned into my open mouth when I finally reached and circled his nipple with a single finger.

After his second groan his tongue became even more aggressive pushing its way into my mouth and shoving my own tongue out of the way and he licked the inside of my mouth. His hands were not idle either, as soon as he started kissing me they had roughly pulled my unresistant body up and towards his own naked flesh. As I made contact with his heated skin I just gave up thinking and just let myself feel as his tongue slid in and out of my mouth mimicking some other activity that involved thrusting.

He wrenched his mouth away from mine groaning, "take it off." Not bothering to wait for an answer he was already reaching for the hem of my shirt and was impatiently trying to take it off but he ran into a problem when he refused to let go of my mouth.

The shirt finally made it off and I pulled myself up against him trying to rub my chest against his. The hard pebbles of my nipples rubbing against him tore his attention away from my mouth and seconds later he was planting hot kisses on the way down my neck. Taking one small nipple into his mouth he sucked hard before biting gently down on the sensitive nub, he was not one to play favorites so he kissed his way across my chest to give my other nipple the same treatment. Since I was holding onto his shoulders he let go of my waist in order to cup a breast and rub the nipple with his thumb while he sucked on the other one.

Soon Phil left my very well used nipples behind and kissed his way down to my belly button before he swirled his tongue around it. I squirmed a little, wanting his tongue a little lower. My body clenched in anticipation as I lifted my hips to help him take off my pants. Instead of letting my body fall back on into the chair he cupped my ass with both hands and pulled me up to meet him.

He did not tease me a lot, probably a testament to the fact as to how much he wanted this as well. Instead he went straight for the goods, after using his shoulders to make me part me knees some more he swept his tongue from my entrance all the way to my clitoris.

"You are wet," he mumbled against me as he gave me another lick, "did I ever tell you that pink has now become my favorite color?" His tongue was soft and agile as he circled the small bundle of nerves that seemed to control my entire body. My hips started moving up to meet his tongue wanting and needing him to lick a little harder.

I felt his shift as he took my clit in his mouth and sucked. "Please." I whispered, hoping that he knew what I was asking for because at this point in time my mind was not working well enough to be able to say more than just one word.

I felt a finger circle me before he pushed it a little bit into me. Lifting my hips, I tried to encourage him to go deeper but all he did was twist it around just on the inside. That was when he started sucking hard on my clit in rhythm with the movement of his finger in and out of me. Soon another finger had joined in as he increased his pace, all ability to think left me at this point.

I was so close to finishing that my back was arching in anticipation of going over the edge, and then he started to slow down. _No, no, no I needed it faster, harder._ He gave one last kiss and then pulled away completely.

I looked up at him, confusion and frustration filling my body as he denied me my orgasm. Phil did not give me much time to ponder his strange actions, "this time I want to join you." The fire was even hotter in his eyes as he looked at the spot he had just abandoned.

Picking me up bridal style he carried me to his huge bed, I reached up for him and tweaked his nipple ring, "you could have just finished you jerk."

He gave me a big smile, full dimples and all, as he helped me get settled on the bed - it seemed even during sex Phil liked to play. The creamy white sheets were cool against my heated skin, but they did not hold my attention for long.

Phil normally laid back persona seemed to take a backseat in the heat of the moment. His normally languid movements were a little more hurried as he lowered himself on top of me, I shifted my legs apart to accommodate his narrow waist - my hand automatically going up to his shoulders as he settled his elbows next to me. His kiss was softer this time, his lips tasted slightly musky and I was going to assume that was due to me. His slow languid kiss pushed the fire inside of me higher, wanting more I lifted my hips up to meet him.

I could feel him lining up with my pussy, I rubbed myself against him a little in anticipation spreading some of my copious juices on the head of his dick. Phil continued to kiss me slowly but deeply almost like we had all the time in the world, but I could feel the tension in his movements - he was deliberately holding back. He was rubbing himself against me in small circles, it was almost as good as his tongue and to quickly the tension that had been mounting earlier returned. While before I had needed an orgasm this time I wanted , no I needed that penis in me...right now.

"Phil," I moaned trying to push myself against him but my angle was wrong, he was not helping me at all.

"Yes Princess?" He asked pretending there was nothing going on, but I was not fooled by his words especially when they were spoken in such a low growl. He finally did what I wanted, slowly sliding an inch or so into me. I was surprised at the tight fit, but he was not a small man and it had been a while since I done this; for a moment I was glad that he had spent the time preparing me. I got angry and growled at him when he withdrew a little bit, grabbing his hair I pulled him down to me for a deep kiss trying to coax him into pushing fully inside. He swiftly gave into my demands and slid another inch inside of me, stretching nerves that had never been stimulated before. He repeated the back and forth movement, and this time I did not get angry though there might have been some encouragement on my part - my nails were digging into a shoulder trying to gain the leverage to get more of him. Back and forth, retreat and advance, - he was going for too slow.

Then a final deep thrust bound us together in the most primitive way possible, I searched for his mouth as I wrapped my arms and legs around him trying to get even closer. He started moving at a slow pace, my body adjusting to his rhythm met him half way. His measured pace was driving me insane with need, as my body was slowly pushed towards the edge of that cliff. I was torn between wanting to prolong the sheer pleasure of filling me with everything he had and the knowledge that at the end the explosion would be better than before.

"Come on Leah," he whispered as he started to increase the pace, I could feel myself being pushed higher but it was still not enough. He seemed to understand my dilemma because he reached behind him and grabbed one of my legs, hitching it over one of his elbows. This opened me up a little more, and when he combined that with the tilting of his hips as he thrust in rubbled me just the right way. I could feel the increased friction, one or both of us was swelling even more causing an increase of pressure with each thrust. It took only half a dozen more quick movements of his agile hips and I was flying. I reached the stars and beyond, as my entire body convulsed with pleasure so intense it could have been pain. My release seemed to trigger his, and after a few deep thrusts he too followed me, groaning my name before he buried his face in my neck.

I don't know how long we lay there, trying to recover both our breaths and the ability to think. Running my hands up and down his sweaty I inhaled slowly, our scents had mingled and combined to the point where I could not tell the difference between the two. I could feel him slowly getting softer and retreating from my body, despite its very recent orgasm my body was protesting a little over the loss. I wanted to hold him close and keep him there, never before had I wanted to stay close after sex - usually there was the fear of getting caught if we prolonged the process. Maybe this was what it felt like when it was between two adults instead of kids trying to grow up too quickly.

"Are you all right?" he asked, gently pushing away a sweaty strand of my hair in order to look into my eyes. I noticed that he had not moved his hips away from mine, maybe I was not the only one who needed to prolong this closeness.

"Umm, yeah." I told him enjoying the feel of his body relaxed against mine. I noticed that he made sure to keep most of his weight on his elbows, he was always taking care of me.

Phil heaved a reluctant sigh before pulling away from me. "I will be right back." He told me as he walked naked out the door. He came back less than a minute later with a damp cloth and helped me clean up.

"So Princess, did you like that?" He asked as he tossed the towel aside and lay down facing me on the bed.

I turned to my side so that I could face him. "It was all right," I light with a small shrug.

"Is that so?" Phil sounded amused, not fooled even for a second.

"Hmmm maybe we should do it again, just for practice, maybe you will get it right the second time." My smile was a little bit cheeky as the British might say.

"All right," he told me with a serious look and a nod. I watched with surprise as he rolled over to his back. "We might as well get started practicing."

He pulled me across his body, lining me up with his waist. Since he was not wearing any pants I was pretty sure that the thing poking my hips was not a gun in his pocket - it appeared that little Phil was happy to see me.

"Don't you need some time to recover?" So I might have sounded completely shocked, but I thought guys needed some time to get things going again.

"Not exactly human," he told me with a small grin, "and did I not warn you that once we got started we would not be stopping for a while."

I returned his smile and leaned down to kiss him, this time I would control the pace. I rubbed myself against him a little, the recent activities had made me a little more sensitive and I could not hide my shudder of pleasure. This was going to be fun.

* * *

A/N: All right I had better get comments, tell me what I did right and wrong. I get really nervous writing that stuff... I don't know how much detail you want. All right I have rewritten this chapter at least four times, sorry if it is riddled with spelling mistakes I am just going to throw this out there.

Jaime2772: There is your fruit salad, Leah made a quick recovery and so did Phil :D. No seriously I need the adult version of Breaking Dawn, I might have to look for a fanfic version - though I get kind of pissy when people don't stick to the characters. I mean why bother calling them that name when you are not going to be true to their personality.

Elphaba85: There you go sexy alone time, and not one member of the family interrupted. There you go, hopefully the longest and most detailed lemon. I promise there will be more in the next chapter too.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked Phil's mom, like I said before she will be around again but with a little more hint of mischief. Tell me was the lemon too much info? not enough?

Connect2jb: Glad you like the updates, do you think the level of detail too much?

ABarbieStory: So was alone time what you expected? Are you surprised that no one interrupted? Maybe Tam saw it coming and to ensure future grandchildren patrolled the region and went so far as to tackle one of her nieces that had innocently headed for Phil's house to see if she could borrow a cup of sugar. Yeah a Phil and Sue clearwater showdown would be fun to watch.

Domino88: Glad you like, Leah's transformation has been fun to write at times, though it is also kind of fun to just let her total bitch out. Cause she just does it so well.


	33. Vacation

A/N: Just a friendly warning this is an M rated story.

For the G rated version of this story:

Phil and Leah went to a beautiful meadow where they had a picnic and then lay side by side looking at the clouds above them. Oh yeah and Leah somehow got her shirt torn, just a little. :D

-All right there you go if you don't want to read the rest of the M rated chapter. Now onto the real story.

* * *

32 - Vacation

A small touch tickled my cheek, too lazy to lift my hand to shoo away whatever had just landed on my face I burrowed further into the soft pillow. I was warm, snuggly and completely relaxed... parts of me that I had not realized could be relaxed were relaxed. I was not ready to wake up yet, my insides were the consistency of a marshmallow and I was perfectly content to be just where I was. The annoying touch came back, this time walking up the curve of my ear, tickling it slightly. Making a small displeased noise I expended some energy to lift my hand to swat the thing but it moved before I could brush it away. As soon as I put my hand back on the pillow there was a soft brush against my nose, it was then that I noticed the scent.

"It takes you a while to wake up, doesn't it?" I heard Phil's chuckle in my ear. His soft breath against the sensitive skin behind my ear reminded me why I was in such a languid state.

I opened one eye to see that he was the one tickling my nose with a sprig of flowers. The small bell shaped flowers were familiar to me, pure white little spheres all lined up along the small green stem. The amazing scent coming off the delicate blossoms should have given it away.

"Lily of the valley," I remembered the name of the small plant. I rolled over to my back and gave up on trying to sleep as my brain finally started working again, "so what does that mean? Thanks for the awesome sex?"

I looked up at his smiling face above me, he ran the velvety smooth blossom over my upper lip before he placed a quick kiss in that exact same spot. "Close enough, it means return to happiness."

I returned the smile but it was kind of hard not to especially since he had brought out the big guns. I took the small flower away from him, rubbing the blossoms around the deep indentations in his face, "seriously Phil your dimples should be illegal."

"I have been told by several people that I get away with far too much just with a smile." He told me as I touched touched him gently. I had always loved those dimples of his, and it was nice to finally be able to molest them a little. Maybe I could do more than just molest his dimples, sitting up and letting the sheet fall off revealed my naked body. I pressed a soft kiss against his face, licking one of those dimples I loved so much. Phil quickly picked up on what I was trying to do and shifted his body in order to deepen our was when my stomach decided to chime in and remind me of the fact that it had not been fed well in a while.

"Time to get out of bed," I reluctantly pulled away from Phil, suddenly noticing that he was wearing pant. "Hey did I say you could put your clothes back on?"

Phil gave me a small shrug as he rolled out of bed and offered a hand to help me out of bed. I noticed that his jeans were not fully buttoned up and they had slid down a few inches when he moved. My eyes followed the narrow band of hair down to the point where it started to spread out. I was willing to bet that my man was going commando right now and my inner wolf definitely approved. For a few seconds I considered the pros and cons of luring him back into bed.

"You have completely worn me out, I need a little break." He must have noticed where I was looking.

"Whatever," I scoffed at his words, I had personal experience with just how much energy he had. Much to my regret he finally noticed that his pants were about to slip off of his narrow hips, he quickly buttoned them up making the decision for me. "All right I am as hungry as a wolf," I repeated my earlier joke.

Kicking the sheets off of my legs and grabbing a hold of his hand, I allowed him to help me out of bed. Some girls might have been bothered by being completely naked so early in a relationship but being a wolf had pretty much cured me of that. When you were shifting back and forth you could not preserve your modesty for long. Pretty much everyone in my pack had seen me naked at one point or another, and playing for several hours in bed with Phil meant that he had seen every little portion of me. At one point he started with my toes and kissed his way up to the top of my head - some places got more kisses than other, but I was not complaining.

Allowing myself to be helped out of bed I realized my mistake, Phil was not being a gentleman and helping me out of bed. He was being a insatiable pig and was actually pulling me into his embrace. Long lean arms went around me as he leaned down to give me a kiss. I ducked under his arm and backed away. "No, go away and don't touch me.I am too hungry to play again."

Phil gave me a sexy grin, "are you sure you don't want to give me just a little kiss?" His cajoling tone was not going to work on me this time.

I gave him a sly smile as I located my t-shirt on the floor next to the chair. "There all covered up, I am no longer tempting."

"Leah do you honestly think that just because you put on a shirt I am no longer interested. Which by the way, I would just like to point out that your shirt belongs to me." He took a few steps towards me, "and I want my property back."

"Finders keepers!" I might have screamed like a girl as I ran out the door and for the stairs, hopefully I would be a little safer if I made it to the kitchen. I though men were supposed to have a decreased sex drive as they aged, obviously whoever had done those studies had never met Phil.

Two hundred pounds plus some of pure male tackled me in the middle of the living room, I was not all that worried as he somehow twisted our bodies to land safely on one of his massive couches. A major tickle battle the ensued, it was the only way to fend of his amorous advances.

"All right mercy," he finally called out when I dug into his sides. I had discovered this weakness early on, and I was going to abuse this knowledge for as long as possible. "I forfeit. What do you want?" He was laughing so hard he was practically crying.

"I am victorious," I told him with an exaggerated fist in the air as I celebrated my win. "All right what do I win?"

"Anything you want Princess." He practically purred at me, the look in his eyes made his intentions very clear.

"Holy shit Phil, how have you survived this long without getting any?" I rolled my eyes. Jeez it was a good thing I was a wolf because otherwise he would have worn me out.

"Do you really want me to answer that question?" Phil asked, his face full of mischief. "What else is there to do at night?"

"I thought you said you watched me sleep," I reminded him of one of our previous conversations.

"I did that too, but the nights are long and there is plenty of time to do other things," he spoke with a smile in his voice, not at all ashamed of practically admitting he liked to jerk off at night.

Hell why did I not think of that, it would have saved me a lot of sexual frustration these past couple of months. _Maybe because you wanted company, and did not want to do it yourself? Though watching Phil play with himself might be interesting._

It was time to change the subject, before my mind became permanently stuck in the gutter. "All right I finally figure out what you will give me for winning."

"My eternal love?" His tone was mock serious.

"No thanks," I shook my head at him, he had already given me that one. I took a quick peek at his face to make sure he was not upset by the fact that his offer of love had just been thrown back in his face - Phil looked slightly amused so there was nothing to worry about. "No, what I want is food, really good food. Too bad you can't order pizza around here."

"I am assuming you want something quickly," he stood up and started walking to the kitchen. It was best if I stayed on the dining room side of the counter, food would appear sooner and would be better tasting that way. It did not surprise me that Phil already had dinner cooking, my complete absorption with my battle with him was the only reason I had not noticed the succulent aroma that was emanating from the oven.

While Phil gathered our food I opened the back door, the afternoon sun was starting to get low enough in the sky that the ancient trees surrounding the house blocked our view of it. The perfect azure sky was marred by a few fluffy clouds but they were too scattered to actually produce any rain. The flowers that were blooming around us may have indicated early Spring but the weather felt much warmer, the brilliant sun had heated up the air making the scents swirling around me more pungent. The slightly bitter smell of tree sap was the most overwhelming of all of the scents, but there were other flavors in the air that I could not identify. There was also the ever present scent of decay, but that was completely normal, the dead leaves that had been shed last Fall were finally beginning to decompose adding another layer to the complex bouquet.

"Wow you can really smell everything around here," I told Phil as we sat down outside at the small metal table, it did not take much effort on my part to convince him to move our meal outside.

"It does not rain here as often as in Washington, so the smells stick around longer," he stated as he sat down across from me. We did not waste much time speaking, instead we both dug into our meals with a great deal of relish.

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked as we finished drying the last of the dishes, as much as I wanted to suggest that we head back to bed it might behove me to do something other than sex. It was not like we had to go back to Washington tomorrow, we had several more months left here. _Plus there is always tonight._

"Well before you interrupted," Phil told me with a severely put out look, "I was trying to clean out the front flower beds."

It turns out that Phil had started the plants inside his greenhouse and now it was warm enough that they could be transferred outside. He did not do this every year, but since we were spending the summer it would be fun to make the house look a little more presentable - at least that is what he told me.

"We usually keep the inside well maintained, but the gardens tend to be a little more neglected." Phil explained the messy state of the raised beds right next to his front door. "My gardening efforts have been especially poor this year since I was running around trying to keep you safe."

We spent the remainder of the afternoon light cleaning out the front garden, the scent of freshly turned soil was added to the mix as we transplanted the small seedlings. Our outside excursions were not completely innocent, Phil kept peppering me with kisses - the first time he did it I almost crushed the small plant I had been holding in my hand. Soon I got used to his distraction and started to return the favor, once I even managed to surprise him with a pinch to his fine ass when he walked past me.

* * *

I woke up to darkness and for a moment did not know where I was - we ended up back in Phil's bed after coming in and consuming a light snack. I was planning on taking a shower to wash off all the dirt from gardening but Phil took his shirt off and I saw the glittering of his silver nipple ring - needless to say I got slightly off track but I would challenge anyone to keep to their plans when that little silver bar flashes in front of their face.

"Sorry Princess, I did not mean to wake you." Phil's whispered words brought me back to the present.

"What time is it?" I mumbled half asleep.

"A little past two, I am just going to go take a shower." He was shifting the blanket around trying to tuck it around me.

"Really? Do you need help washing your back?" Even half asleep I managed to say it with a leer in my voice.

"If you want," he did not waste much time, almost immediately I felt the sheets being pulled off of my body. Phil picked me up bridal style as he carried me to the bathroom, he did not bother turning on any of the lights since the moonlight streaming in through the large windows illuminated the way - it also helped that we both had excellent night vision.

He told the shower to turn on, this voice activated thing was awesome. I woke up completely when the warm pulsing water hit my naked body.

Pushing Phil against one of the walls of the shower I became a little bit bossy, "stand there and don't move." He hesitated only for a moment before leaning back against the cream colored tile and closing his eyes, the large muscles of his thighs flexed as he got into a more comfortable position. Grabbing a bar of soap I rubbed it between my hands while contemplating where to begin. It was liberating to be able to have at his body without those pale green eyes watching my every move, I might have been fairly comfortable with him but it was nice to be allowed to take over control. I had long ago realized that Phil was not the sort of guy that gives up control easily, the fact that he trusted me enough that he would just stand there was a major ego boost. When I had enough bubbles I put down the soap and spread the suds across his wide shoulders, for a moment I felt him tense up before he relaxed again, moving my hands down to his chest I continued my explorations of his body, it was not entirely my fault if his nipple ring got extra attention. I had never given much though to piercings before but that little silver bar was as sexy as hell, I gently scrapped my nails across his nipples making him moan a little. It was especially hot in Phil, just further evidence that below that mature persona lurked a little bit of a a bad boy.

My body had blocked out most of the water while I soaped him up, to rinse off the soap all I had to do was step aside and all the suds were washed away. A wide and glistening chest greeted me, it was impossible not to start planting kisses across the expanse of muscle. My lips followed the same path as my hands, from his wide shoulders all the way to the little silver bar. I made sure to press an extra kiss to the spot where that funny little heartbeat was the loudest, just under his left nipple. As I stood on my tiptoes to press kisses on all of his chest it was hard not to notice how Phil felt about my ministrations, a large object pressed against my belly - I could feel it getting larger with every heartbeat.

Grabbing the soap again I lathered up my hands again as I surveyed his body. Mine all mine, the inner girl in me squealed.

"Hmm we have to make sure we get this nice and clean." I gently wrapped my fingers around him and moved my hand up and down the wide shaft, his low throaty moan was testament to the fact that I was doing something right. I leaned over and licked the small flat disk of his nipple, sucking on it lightly.

It was a pleasure watching Phil's reactions to my teasing, every squirm and low sound that came out of his mouth excited me. Suddenly his long fingers circled my wrist as he pulled my hand away from him, I pouted a little as he took away my toy. His eyes were open, the fire in them making me even more hot.

"Turn around and put both hands on the wall." Phil's command came out as a deep growl; his regular voice was enough to make a girl wet but when he was aroused it got even deeper bringing it down to the point of making my girl parts clench with need.

He did not give me much time to comply, instead he used the hold on my wrist to turn me away from him as he used his large body to press me against the cool tile wall. For a moment there was nothing else but the sensation of the cold tile on my front and the hot male body pressed against my back. Phil used his legs to gently kick my legs slightly apart, I had braced myself a little bit on the wall as I felt his fingers ghosting down my spine. For a moment a finger pressed inside of my already slick folds I assumed he was checking to see if I was ready. Much to my relief he did not play for long, almost instantly the finger was gone to be replaced with something much wider. In one fluid movement he slowly slid into me, we groaned in unison, his angle allowed for a deeper penetration but he did not remain there for long.

"So you like to tease?" He growled into my ear. "I will show you teasing," he threatened as he kept up a slow but steady pace.

Considering how much sex I had in the past twenty four hours it should have been impossible for me to be this easily aroused - but I was to the point where it was almost painful. It did not help that Phil knew exactly what he was doing and every time he pushed close to the edge he would slow down right before I could go over. Shallow thrusts were periodically interrupted with a couple of deep ones but it was never enough.

I was moving ever closer to the brink but the last little bit was impossible to cross, I tried moving my hips at a different angle but my position next to the wall made it much harder to tilt my hips. Phil had given me control for a little bit but now he had taken it all back and he was determined for me to understand our position. I would be able to find my pleasure when he allowed it, this would have probably made me angry under most circumstances but it felt too good for me to care.

"Please," I tried to say the word but it probably came out as a groan.

"What was that Princess?" Phil never let up in his pace, as he continued his shallow quick thrusts. My mind was half way gone but it was there enough to note that he sounded a little short of breath, this was effecting him as much as me.

"Now!" I practically shouted, my voice echoing through the large bathroom. But it was not enough of an inducement for him to finish - or he was determined to torture me.

I reached a point of complete and utter loss of brain function, all of my focus was directed at the slide of his hard penis into my slick folds. He may have said something in my ear, but I was beyond the point of being able to understand his words. His pattern changed from shallow, shallow, deep to all deep. He was no longer holding back and he pounded into me with bruising force - that was all I needed. Wave after wave of pleasure rocked my body I may have made noise but I could not be sure.

My first thought when I was able to think was trying to figure out why I had taken this long to jump his bones. At this point my body was so limp that only Phil's strong arms around my waist kept me upright. He turned me around gently and pulled me into his arms, rubbing my back as our heartbeats began to slow to a more normal pace.

We eventually got down to the business of taking a shower. Soon we were wrapped up in towels headed back to bed, he made sure I was completely dry before helping me crawl back in again. "Sleep, Princess. Tomorrow is another day and I will be right here."

I fell asleep tucked into his side. _Why would I ever want to leave this place and go back to the real world?_

* * *

The next time I woke up to the sun shining and the birds chirping; I did not mind, it was a glorious day. I reached over to Phil, but to my disappointment he was not next to me.

"He had better have a good breakfast ready since he was not waiting for me in bed." I headed over to the bathroom and realized I did not have my toothbrush here. So I turned around and went back to my room. It was kind of strange prancing around naked in the house but the only other person here was Phil and at this point he had seen it all.

I quickly brushed my teeth and grabbed some jeans and a T-shirt to wear. I did not bother with a bra, Phil seemed to be a breast guy, so who was I to deny him that.

Luckily for him, Phil had a hot breakfast waiting for me when I located him in the kitchen. "So what do you want to do today Princess?"

The front garden now was cleaned out and the new flowers were planted , from my vantage point I could see that Phil had been busy while I slept and had raked up the debris from the back yard. The few shrubs had been trimmed and the dead branches removed from the solitary tree inside of his fence.

"I don't really care, can we just hang out. Do nothing?" After an entire lifetime of always having something to do it was starting to finally click that there was nothing that needed to be done.

We spent the day upstairs in the sunroom, Phil and I spread out on the same couch our jean clad legs entangled as we read our books. I did not know what Phil was reading since he was using one of the tablets to read his digital book, but from the smile on his face it was amusing. After a semester of college I decided that I needed some light weight reading and found some cheesy little romance novel. The plot was weak to say the least and you pretty much knew what was coming but I was fine with that. One problem, or maybe it was a bonus, was that the sex scenes made me horny which meant that I had no choice but to jump Phil. In case anyone was wondering, the couches in the sun room were an excellent place to have sex, so was the wall inside his greenhouse, as well as the kitchen counter - I really hoped that Phil bleached that spot before he used it to prepare food.

This became our routine for the next week or so, do some laundry, have sex, listen to some music, have sex, vacuum carpets, have sex. It amazed me how many places we managed to do it, but never hanging from the chandelier. On the fourth or fifth day, I kind of lost count, Phil finally convinced me to leave the house and go for a hike with him.

"There is this really pretty lake just a few miles east of here. We can take a picnic lunch." He told me while he packed up his extra large backpack. No matter what had changed over the past few months, one thing remained the same - I was still a wolf that loved food, so when Phil offered up something tasty I followed.

It was a beautiful sunny day, a few clouds were floating across the sky and they would occasionally block out the sun but that did not last more than a few minutes. We did not enjoy the warm rays of the sun for long because soon we were under the thick canopy of the ancient forest, the sounds of human civilization were completely missing on the island. It was a little disconcerting not to hear the sound of a car engine, or music blasting or event an airplane above us; it would take some time to get used to this world. Not that it was completely silent, the sounds of nature were much louder around us, the animals probably did not encounter humans all that often and had not had the opportunity to be afraid.

It took less than an hour of brisk walking to reach our destination, Phil kept up a pace that would have made most humans pant but for the two of us it was fairly comfortable. Now that I compared it to our hikes around the Reservation I realized that my suspicions should have been aroused by the fact that Phil never seemed to get out of breath. It was easy to notice these differences in hindsight but back then I had been a little too occupied with my own problems. We did not follow a distinct trail, instead we weaved through the forest occasionally crossing a stream or a small deer trail.

A wider path appeared at one point and we started to follow its meandering route around the trunks of some of the more massive trees. When I questioned him Phil explained that these were centuries old oak trees, they along with the pine trees dominated the forest. The path was so wide that it made it possible for us to walk side by side, I grabbed Phil's hand as the trees began to thin out.

A hundred or more yards and we reached a clearing, in front of us was a small almost circular lake. The far end was surrounded by the ever present trees but on the side we entered there was a breathtaking meadow. We did not waste much time setting up a blanket and whipping out with the food.

"This is absolutely beautiful." I said breathing in the scents around me. In the past week the crocuses had been replaced by a few daffodils. Their yellow heads bobbed in the light breeze, I could hear the bees buzzing as they made their rounds. Underneath us the springy moss made an excellent mattress as we sat down with our meal.

"The frogs are really singing this afternoon," I may not have been able to see them but their little croaks were loud and clear coming from the thick cluster of cattails on the other side of the lake.

"They are hoping to get some." Phil told me wagging his eyebrows up and down.

"You are such a pig." I told him looking away with a smile. There was really no need to encourage him, this man's sex drive rivaled my own - and I was a sex deprived teenager with the stamina of a wolf.

"Hello, I am male. Hence I am a pig." He lay down next to me and put his hands behind his head as he stared up at the sky.

Following his example I too looked at the clouds passing by, we started talking about various topics, we had covered a great deal of ground in the past couple of days but it felt like the more I learned about Phil the more I realized how little I knew about him. The major stuff had not changed as I got to know him: he valued family and knowledge, he also liked good food.

Phil finally confessed how he felt when he found me dead in the cabin. "It was the most scared I have ever been in my entire life. And that is saying a lot considering how long I have been alive."

"What is that like? Being that old?" Changing the subject was necessary, I did not like the agony in his voice.

He paused for a moment and seemed to take a deep breath, before blowing it out slowly. I noticed he had done this before, it was a way for him to help control his emotions. "Like most lives, usually really boring with the occasional punctuation of excitement."

"So are you bored now?" I was slightly offended, I thought we had been having a lot of fun together.

"No this is awesome, it is nice to show you my world. I am seeing it again for the first time." The only warning I got was a small smile before he reached over and pulled me on top of him. "This is a lot of fun." He told me punctuating each word with a kiss on my nose, eyes and finally my lips. One of his hands was moving up my back slowly pulling my T-shirt up and over my head.

I quickly looked around. "What happens if someone sees us?"

"Like you told me your first day here: they had better bring popcorn, because they are getting a show." His dimples were out in full force and I could not resist, laughing softly I settled myself more comfortably across his body.

Phil pretended to look hurt, even jutted out his lower lip in a fairly decent interpretation of a pout. "You certainly know how to hurt a man's ego, here I am trying to make my moves and all you can do is laugh at me."

"Sorry," I mumbled but I could not keep the smile off my face. So instead I hid in the crook of his neck and kissed my way up to his chin.

I used my earlier knowledge to my advantage, and quickly ran my fingers up his sides underneath his shirt. It was fun watching him squirm before he managed to flip me over and grab both my arms to pull them above my head. I was strong enough that could have pulled out of his hold if I wanted to but my curiosity got the better of me as I wondered what he was doing.

"Hmmm that was not very nice, what am I going to do with you?" The look in his eye pretty much told me what was going to happen. He slowly started to kiss me starting with my very sensitive ears.

The only time he got into trouble was when he tried taking my shirt off while still holding my hands captive above my head. "You can let go of my hands." I suggested in as innocent voice as I could muster, I even batted my eyelashes at him.

He looked down considering for a moment, then suddenly he grabbed one piece of my shirt with his teeth and used his other hand to rip it. "Much better."

"Hey some of us want to wear our clothes again. You don't need to go all caveman on me." Not that I did not enjoy it just a smidgeon, but this sort of behavior should not be encouraged.

"I can fix it, after." The last word was kind of garbled because he had sucked one of my nipples into his mouth. He really was a breast man, not that I was complaining. I soon forgot my complaint about him ripping my shirt. That afternoon we expanded our sexual escapades to the great outdoors. I learned the hard way that having sex against a tree was not the best plan, it was a good thing that I healed fast because bark rubbing against your back was not pleasant. Phil had warned me but I was determined to play, obviously I had gotten over my fear of being seen.

* * *

The next several weeks were spent traipsing through the woods, it finally completely sunk in that I did not have anything that had to be done. We would start each day with no concrete plans and as the day went along we decided if we wanted to stay close to the house or head out into the ancient forest. Phil offered to take me to meet other members of the family that were also staying on the island but I was feeling a little anti-social and did not want to deal other people. One afternoon a few weeks later I was trying something extremely dangerous.

Phil had gone to his study to catch up on some paper work and I had snuck downstairs to try to surprise him with dinner. It was kind of rude of me to expect him to constantly do the cooking. I was going to try my hand at making a lasagna, and if that failed there was always my back up plan: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I was peeking in the oven to check to see if my cheese was bubbling and brown when I heard Phil coming down the stairs. "You will never guess what I did." I told him with a laugh, I was completely impressed with myself. I quickly grabbed the oven mitts to pull out the pan with the delicious smelling food, if this stuff tasted half as good as it smelled I would be in heaven.

Phil was silent behind me for too long and I finally looked up to see why he was not saying anything, his face was absolutely serious. "What is wrong?" Immediately I thought of my family. Oh my god had something happened to Seth. Here I was having funky bunny sex while he got hurt.

"No, no there is nothing wrong, I just have to leave for a week or so." He did not give any other explanation.

"When and where are you going?" I was getting worried, he was not talking to me which was never a good sign. We had gone back to the pulling teeth to get any information out of him, I though that we were past all this evasiveness.

"I have to leave the island very soon, and if you want to talk to me you will have to walk with me. I am headed up to the main house and if you want an explanation it will have to be there." Phil did not waste much time, and sat down next to the door to pull on his boots.

I knew the general location of the main house, I had been there a few times and I suddenly wondered what was so important that would require his presence in that large house. I was not going to be left out of the loop so I too put on my boots.

"We are taking the tunnels", he told me leading us down to the basement of his house. I did not really care for using the tunnels to travel around. They tended to be damp, and made me feel extremely claustrophobic, but since they went straight through the hills they were much faster than going over. Phil did not waste much time talking instead he jogged through the passageways.

Soon the tunnels expanded into a larger room. Phil did not go up the stairs as I expected, instead he went straight through to another room. I watched as he put his hand on the keypad to gain entry. The large silver door slid open, leading the way to a huge room.

The place was long and narrow with floor to ceiling shelves lining both sides of the room, there was another door on the other side, it was closed so I could not see what was past it. The shelves were stacked with very similar looking metal chests, there were a few dull metal tables but no chairs scattered in middle of the room. Other than that the place was completely bare. The color of the metallic walls matched the grey of the concrete below our feet, there was not even a hint of color in the room.

"What is this place?" I asked Phil in a hushed voice, my question echoed eerily through the room. The industrial feel of the room did not help alleviate any of my fears, in fact it added to them.

"This is the armory." He told me while searching through the boxes. He must have found what he was looking for because he grabbed one of them off the shelf and pulled it down. Based on the sound it made when it hit the floor the box was filled with something heavy. Phil dragged the box and lifted it onto one of the tables before he moved back to the shelves to continue his search, the table looked sturdy enough but it still creaked a little when he placed the heavy box on top.

"Armory, so that would be like body armor?" Where was he going that he needed body armor?

"Yes, I was called by one of the family members, they located a problem spot and need some extra help. Phila and I will head out in less than an hour. You will stay here..." He told me as he pulled a second box off the shelf and dragged that to another table. This box he opened so that I could see what was inside. It looked almost like dull pots, but I quickly realized they were the wrong shape.

He started to strip down, but I was too afraid to appreciate the show, that stuff looked serious. Over the past month Phil had really opened up to me and answered any question I asked, for him to clam up all of a sudden frightened me. I almost did not recognize this man, he did not look anything like the man I had tackled this morning after he pranced around me wearing only a towel.

"This does not look like you are going to go have tea or something." My voice shook a little bit.

"That is because there is an infestation we have to clear out." Phila told me walking up behind me, she opened the other metal box that Phil had placed on the table and started taking her clothes off as well.

"How do you clear out an infestation? And what exactly is being infested." My fear escalated? Why was I being kept ignorant, what was it that Phil did not want me to know?

"Humans are being infested. The way to clear it out is to find them, cut off their heads, and burn the bodies." It was not Phila or Phil who answered my question, but a new voice behind me. I had never seen this person before, he was tall and broad with dark brown eyes and short black hair.

"Leah, this is Uncle Mickey." Phil told me quietly, as he continued to change.

"How do you do young lady?" He ask as he too reached for a box, I knew what was coming so I turned away as he started to pull off his clothes. It gave me a good view of Phila's naked ass but it was something that I had become familiar with since she did not always wear clothes around the house in Seattle.

"I think you made her nervous." Said another voice, this time a woman. "You must be Leah, I am Kim." I turned around to find a hispanic looking woman with dark eyes and dark brown hair. She was not quiet as tall as I was and much more slender.

"So you are going to fight something and kill it?" I was getting nervous, what if Phil got hurt, what if he got killed?

"Leah, we do this all the time, it is part of our job. All those centuries we spend on the island, this is one of the things we train for." He came over to me and gave me a hug, he was wearing something that looked almost like a padded shirt and matching dull grey pants. "Everything will be fine, if you don't want to wait at the house alone you can go see my mother, I think she is still on the island."

"Just how long will you be gone?" How long would I have to sit here alone, worrying.

"It is hard to tell but it should not take over a week." He told me as he went back to his box. I watched as they slowly put on their armor, dull grey metal looking pieces that they assembled on their bodies. He put his helmet on last, had I not known for sure the man I loved was in there somewhere I would have been scared out of my mind. He looked like he meant business, especially with that gun and sword strapped onto his back.

"Why the sword if you have the gun?" I asked him.

"Sometimes we have to do close range combat and it makes it easier to have the sword." All of a sudden I got a flashback to the first time Phil had taken me to the cabin, I remembered him showing me the swords hanging in the cabin. At the time I thought they were just decoration, reminders of a past time. Only now did I realize what they truly were - weapons that were still used to take lives.

We were joined by two more members of the family, and I finally made the connection. These were partners, Kim and Mickey; and the two new ones Pasha and Mac.

I recognized Pasha as the girl who had introduced herself as Melissa that day on the field when we had first met the guardians. Malcolm I mistook for Angus, but he was quick to tell me they were from a set of identical triplets. Pasha was completely different from the woman she had played on the field, now she was confident and quick in her movements - the clumsy girl was gone, Pasha should really consider a career in acting. Right now she was giving orders in an authoritative voice, telling everyone what they were facing and what order they would clean out the place. The foreign terms she was using made it impossible for me to follow along with her instructions.

"Bossy little thing is she not?" Malcolm smiled at me before he too put on his helmet. It was so disconcerting, he even had the same smile as Angus.

"Stop talking Mac, we have to go." Pasha said slamming her box closed before moving it back to the shelf.

They left me there, with Phil giving me instructions to call his mother if I needed anything. I was not stupid, you did not put on that sort of armor and take weapons of that caliber because your opponent was just going to lay down and die... this looked like they were going to war.

I went back to the house, no longer interested in the meal I had made. I dumped it all in the trash before I threw the pan in the sink. I would wash it later. Phil had promised that everything would be fine but I was still afraid for him; I guess this was one of the consequences of loving someone, you started to worry about someone other than yourself.

I knew this time on the island was too good to be true, fate was not going to let me live happily ever after, it was determined to fuck me over. With my luck something would happen to Phil, I felt completely and utterly helpless as I considered what I would do without my bad boy.

Here was the blemish in the perfect life I had been living for the past month. I had woken up every morning thinking this was just a dream, finally reality caught up with me.

I kept telling myself that Phil was very intelligent and very resourceful, he could handle anything. But the picture of Phil lying dead on the ground in a pool of his own blood did not leave me, needless to say I did not sleep well that night.

* * *

A/N: Um well see what happened was... all right so I have no excuses, I should have had this done a while back. Well this was pretty much of a fluff chapter, next one will be fun. Tamora, Phil's mom, will make an appearance. Thank you everyone for your reviews, you seemed very excited over the lemons.

Twilighter: Yes lemons are always good, glad you liked it. Jailbait is going to be a while, unless of course I get majorly lucky and get a few days off in order to concentrate on his story. Maybe once the kids start school...

Domino88: Sorry that it took so long to update, glad you liked the "action".

Keither Serenity: Yeah Leah is lucky in some aspects but she has had to work for this, glad you liked the lemons.

Ms Anime goddess: Glad the detail level was one you approved of, there are some stories that do give too many lemons, to the point where I actually skip them (I know but it gets boring). Hopefully this fluffy chapter was not one of those. I kind of have been picking on Sam here lately but in my defense this is Leah's version of the story and Phil is willing to defend her even against that little prick.

Fantasy Lover74: Fanning yourself? Don't worry I certainly had a blush writing some of these lemons.

Connect2jtb: I added more details in the lemons, I have been trying to get a little more citrusy hopefully it worked. Glad you liked.

Jaime2772: Fruit salad, yummy, yummy. Now as I tell all the girls you can try your luck with Phil but you will have to go through Leah - and honestly she could easily kick my ass. I will keep an eye out to see if there is good BD fanfic that does not fade to black, though since trying to write lemons I have realized it is not as easy as it sounds.

ABarbieStory: Wow that was some review, I was in public when I was reading it and could not help but laugh...it was not an appropriate place to laugh and I most certainly got funny looks. Just for you I considered writing another G rated intro.


	34. Waiting

33 - Waiting

I don't know when exactly I fell asleep but it was not until late into the night, even then I tossed and turned frequently my dreams filled with images of finding Phil in the middle of the woods - sometimes he would be hurt but the worst was when I kept trying to hear his funny little heartbeat and it was completely missing.

Waking up the next morning was not pleasant; I was tired, stiff, and really cranky. My favorite means of feeling better was now unavailable to me, making my mood ever more sour. Growling at the sunshine streaming in through the windows, I attempted to roll over and pull a pillow over my head but it smelled of citrus and sage, reminding me of Phil and the fact that I was all alone today.

It was my hunger that finally forced me to get up and go downstairs. The lasagna that I had cooked for dinner last night had been thrown away in a fit. My stomach was reminding me of that fact in an extremely unpleasant way.

Deciding to keep myself busy was easy enough, finding something to actually do was a bit harder. The greenhouse plants were well watered, nothing needed weeding or harvesting. I found one small load of laundry but that did not take up enough time.

The house sounded especially quiet and empty this morning, usually there was the sound of Phil's unique heartbeat coupled with whatever he was doing. Most days I enjoyed the silence, especially after having lived in the dorms, but today it was driving me insane. I turned on the sound system and changed it to some angry girl music, nothing like Garbage to cheer a girl up.

I was in the middle of cleaning an already pristine bathroom when I heard a knock on the door right behind me.

I jumped up, dropped my rag and managed to kick my bucket of soapy water over. The words coming out of my mouth were not exactly ladylike as I turned around to see who had interrupted me.

"I am sorry I startled you." Tam told me from the door of the bathroom. "No, here let me help you with that. I will go get a mop." She was back less than a minute later and pushed me away as I attempted to soak up the water with my small rag. Phil's normally talkative mother was rather taciturn as we cleaned up the mess together, she spoke nothing until after the bucket and mop had been safely put away in the closet next to the kitchen.

"Is there any particular reason you are cleaning an already clean house?" She asked me looking around the kitchen. I had followed her quietly as she sat down on one of the stools next to the counter, her expression was neutral as she waited for me to explain my insanity.

I shrugged not wanting to share my fears, it probably would sound really stupid if I said it out loud.

"Phis sent me a message, he wanted me to check up on you." Tam finally told me after giving me a long look. "At first I thought he was exaggerating, but form the looks of things his fears might not have been as outlandish as I originally thought."

Worrying that she had been reading my mind I tried to think of nothing in particular but then I realized what she had actually told me. "Phil? Did you talk to him? Is he all right?"

"Yes, no problem, did he not send you a message? But then you might not have heard your phone with this music blaring." Her tone was amused.

I barely heard her finish the last sentence as I rushed to find my phone, I had not used it since we got to the island. After a frantic few minutes of searching through my room I found it in the bathroom drawer with the combs. Whey the heck had I put it in there?

_ Everything is fine here, it has been three days, will be back soon. Love you, Phil._

That was all he wrote but those few words were enough to loosen the constriction that had gathered around my heart ever since I watched him leave. What did he mean by three days? I went in search of Tam, maybe she could explain.

"Oh, we kind of have to send the phone messages through a strange relay so sometimes the time gets a little messed up." She waved her hand up and down like that would explain it all.

"Is he truly all right, or is he saying it just to stop me from worrying? What exactly are they fighting?" They had not been very specific about what they were going to fight, but the amount of armor and weapons they had taken with them spoke volumes.

"Has Phil told you nothing?" She asked somewhat surprised, then she laughed a little. "It always amazes me how much he takes after his father, you are going to have to discourage that." She shook her head as she looked off into the distance for a minute. I tried not to squirm with impatience, she looked like she was trying to decide something. It felt like it was always the women of Phil's family who actually told me the things I actually needed to hear.

"Phil has told me some, but I always feel like he leaves stuff out." This was an attempt to encourage her to tell me things, I remembered how his cousin Blossom had explained the binding process to me that night over dinner. Would Tam do the same thing with their mysterious enemy?

"Phil's father used to do that to me, I found that asking direct questions tended to be the best method for obtaining information." She was still thinking about something, making a decision, I hoped it would mean that she would explain. "Well direct questions and withholding sex." She mumbled that last part under her breath, she might not have thought I heard her.

I tried my best not to picture Phil's parents in bed together, unfortunately it was one of those circumstances where the harder I tried not think about it the more my mind focused on it. I could have gone through my entire life completely content to never having imagined Phil's parents doing the nasty.

"Look Leah, I am not going to lie to you, this is not a stroll through the park. But we spend a lot of time training and they are not let out until we are absolutely sure they can handle themselves. Plus he is never alone, Phila will be there to watch his back." She tried to reassure me.

For a moment jealousy consumed me, here I was at home doing nothing while Phil was out there in danger with another woman to protect him. That was supposed to be my job, guarding my man. "I feel like the weak little woman left at home while her big strong man goes out and protects the land." Is this what I was going to be doing from now on, staying safely on the island while Phil goes out to fight?

"Hmmm. I think what would help is for us to get out a little." Tam face became a combination of determination and understanding.

I did not know how I felt about this, Phil and I had been going outside for several weeks now - but somehow I did not get the impression that this is what she meant. "What do you mean get out?" My voice was filled with suspicion, when someone said get out a little in my mind it meant go to a bar or something. There were two problems with that line of thought, one was that as far as I knew there were no bars on the island and second it would be really awkward going to a drinking spot with Phil's mother.

"Just for today we are going to the planet of my father's people." She told me in the same casual tone that others would use to describe heading down to the local park. She gave a nod almost like I was the one that had suggested this plan.

"Wait as in another planet? With aliens on it?" I could not keep the amazement out of my voice. The island might have been a planet different from Earth but it looked exactly like home, and it only had family members on it. But she was talking about taking me somewhere completely foreign, on Earth I had never so much as left the country. Despite the fact that the Canadian border was so close to Seattle in my entire life I had never gone to Canada.

"There are no aliens on the planet, only modified humans. The aliens have either died out or left centuries ago." Tam tried to reassure me as she jumped off the stool and started heading for the door. "We need to go see Katie, you will need appropriate clothes for the journey."

For a moment I considered putting my foot down and not going, but then I realized there was nothing for me to do around the house. _You could go back to cleaning the bathroom_ - that annoying voice was lucky that it resided in the back of my head because otherwise I would have kicked its ass by now.

Grabbing my boots I followed her out the door, heading to Aunt Katie's house. The journey took only a short time, but Tam was walking at a really fast pace. She did not say that much to me, but I could feel the waves of energy and excitement coming off of her. She must be really looking forward to visiting this planet, I wondered why she did not go back more often.

Everyone seemed to have the same style of house on this island, the grey dull metal with lots of windows; the only major difference was the size of the place, but most of them were rather square or rectangular in shape. The other portion that varied drastically were the gardens surrounding the house. Aunt Katie was an avid begonia fan, or at least if you looked at her garden you would make that assumption. There were pots of begonias all over her garden, some sitting on the ground in mismatched clusters while others were on pedestals by themselves. I could imagine how much of a pain it was to move all these pots outside in the spring, the begonias looked too delicate to survive the winters around here.

I had only met Aunt Katie on a handful of occasions, she was a petite woman with wheat colored blonde hair and pale blue-grey eyes. Like Alice Cullen she might be small in stature but their forceful personalities made you forget how small they actually were. Aunt Katie was always immaculately dressed with not a strand of hair out of place, I was curious to see what her house would look like. If I had to take a guess I was thinking something along the lines of the french court, delicate brocade covered chairs and lacy curtains and doilies everywhere along with small statues that could be knocked over and broken with merely a breath in their direction.

The curiosity as well as my desperation to distract myself from thoughts of Phil made my steps a little more hurried than they should have been as I followed Tam into the house just seconds after she knocked. I noticed that Tam did not bother waiting for an answer before she just walked into the house. The inside was wildly different from what I expected considering Aunt Katie's personality. Instead of the frills and lace dripping from every surface her house was distinctly minimalistic, the furniture was sturdy and solid looking - the brightly colored fabrics did not have one fleur de lis. No one could claim that it was not stylish, but it looked more modern than I would have guessed for a woman who could not be seen in public without her heels and lipstick.

We found Katie in a small office sitting behind a huge drafting table, again I was surprised. Instead of the fashion designs I was expecting, the drawing in front of her consisted of what looked like the schematics to an extremely intricate machine.

"Not what you were expecting?" Katie laughed as she finished writing down one last set of numbers. The math she was doing was way beyond anything I had seen before.

"What is that?" It almost looked like a weapon of some sorts.

"An engine for a space ship, it helps it move faster than light. Now what can I do for you?" She looked at me, but it was Tam who actually answered her question.

Aunt Katie took me to another room that looked more like what I had expected. The room was filled with racks of half finished clothes as well as bolts of fabrics strews across several large tables. There were those mannequin looking things with half assembled outfits on them, the gauntlet of styles ran from ultra modern to what looked like what they wore in the Pride and Prejudice movies. I could detect the smell of vampire, Alice had been here recently. It was a testament to the fact of how far along I had come that my hackles did not immediately raise after smelling her stench. Don't get me wrong it was still that nauseating sticky and sweet smell but it was not as horrible as I remembered - some part of it must have been in my mind. Tam abandoned me to Aunt Katie's care stating that she needed to go get ready as well.

I did not have much time to contemplate my surroundings as the very small but very bossy ordered me to go take a shower in the bathroom adjacent to the fashion studio. I had not realized that my smell was that foul but it might have been my preoccupation with worrying about Phil. It felt kind of strange taking a shower in someone else's house but it was best just to think of them as family, and this was just like being at one of my aunt's houses. I did not linger long in the shower as I was very curious about going to another planet with Tam, it was still kind of hard to wrap my mind around the concept of traveling between planets.

There were some underwear and a plain white camisole waiting for me as I stepped out of the shower, quickly pulling those on I headed out to the room. Hopefully Aunt Katie would not be offended but in my defense most of the family I had encountered so far seemed to be very open about their bodies - and all of my important bits were covered.

Aunt Katie did not even bat an eyelash as I walked back into the room where she was currently shifting through a rack of clothes that had not been in the room before. "Fortunately for you the style of clothing you are looking for is relatively forgiving in terms of size. I have a couple of outfits that should fit you, so all I have to do is find the right color."

She finally mumbled to herself for a few minutes before finally deciding. The outfit consisted of what might have been loose pajama pants, the only difference was that flowers were stitched into the hems making them a little too pretty to sleep in. I had never seen flowers like that before, they were either someone was extremely imaginative or the flowers grew on an alien planet. They were made out of the same soft fabric as the camisole, if pressed I would have guessed it was linen but my knowledge of fabrics was limited.

The top was a long sleeve tunic that went all the way down to my knees, this too had the flowers at the hem as well as at the cuffs. I was not allowed to put on my comfy hiking boots instead they were replaced with a pair of light golden sandals.

She made me sit down in front of a large mirror, to the side were deep shelves filled with all sorts of lotions and potions. I was starting to get a little worried about her plans for me.

"Hmmm it would be far better if your hair was a little longer, but nothing we can do about that." Aunt Katie was eyeing me in the mirror as she combed out my hair, I had not cut it in a few months but even then it was only shoulder length. "This would look good with a few curls."

"The curling iron never works on me," I warned her as she ran her fingers through my hair.

"Curling iron? What is that... oh now I remember that primitive thing," she shuddered a little. "No we will not be burning your hair up, all it takes is this handy little spray."

She pulled a bottle out of the jumbled group on the shelf and after making sure it was the right one proceeded to douse my head with it. It had a flowery scent but there was some sort of chemical underneath it that I could not identify. As soon as the spray hit my hair the damp strands began to change in shape, my regularly super straight hair started developing waves and curls right before my eyes.

"Wow whatever that is can I have some?" I asked while twisting my head to try to see the full effect. Aunt Katie promised to send some over in the next couple of days, according to her to make the effects go away you just had to wash the chemicals out with some shampoo.

"All right makeup next," she told me as she got some brushed out, I had gotten out of the habit of wearing it in the past year. "You have very nice eyelashes so this should not take much." A thick black line was applied around my eyes and then she added some gold eyeshadow, I was surprised how good it looked. My eyes looked almost golden, if it was not for my dark coppery skin I could have passed for a vegetarian vampire. My only other make-up was the clear gloss she smeared on my lips.

When Tam joined me again she had a similar outfit to mine, though her tunic and pants were a light green. She too had let down her hair, it fell in brown waves down her back past her knees.

"Hmmm don't you look pretty." Tam gestured for me to turn around so that she could see the entire effect. "Yes, this will do. Though we might have to do something about your hair being so short eventually. Oh yes let us not forget the bells."

Before I could ask her to clarify, Aunt Katie had whipped out with a small silver bracelet that was covered with tiny bells. "You need to wear this around you ankle."

Tam looked immensely pleased with herself. "Perfect, thank you Katie. Sorry for interrupting your work."

"It was my pleasure, you know I don't get to do this often, my boys now refuse to let me dress them. It would be all right had they provided me with daughter-in-laws, but they are slacking in their duties in that regard." She grumbled under her breath, she did not see us to the door as she headed back to her drawings.

Tam and I walked slowly through the forest, I was careful to not touch anything considering my outfit was mostly white. "Why is it that every woman in the family seems to have long hair?"

"It is a combination of tradition, vanity, and practicality." Tam explained while she lightly stepped across a small stream. We were headed to the clearing with the flags, that was the only way to get off the island.

The tradition was of course due to the elders of the family, they came from a time when women had long hair. The vanity sort of was self explanatory. The practicality portion was the one she had a harder time trying to explain.

"How can long hair be practical, would it not constantly get in the way?" Letting my hair grow out was not a good thing, since it made me more hairy as a wolf.

"We have certain tricks to keep our hair from tangling. The reason for long hair is that you can hide weapons in it fairly easily. No one looks twice at a woman with the pretty comb in her hair, the comb that can also be used like a throwing knife." She shrugged at this point. "We are trained to be warriors from birth but it is not always practical to carry around a large sword, sometimes our weapons need to be a little more hidden."

Things always seemed to come back to fitting in and moving through society undetected, a wolf in sheep clothing.

I had gotten used to traveling through the bubble, but it was still a little disconcerting to step through the spot not knowing where you will end up. After the initial step and pull of the bubble all I saw was a blinding blue light. Blinking, I tried to adjust to the increased intensity of light, it was so bright that my eyes were watering.

"Sorry I guess I should have warned you," I heard Tam's voice beside me. I closed my eyes for a second before opening them slowly and shielding them with a hand. Looking around my surroundings I noticed we were in a small walled in garden, I could hear the trickling of a small fountain but it took me a minute to find it amongst all the green foliage. The small walled in area was smaller than my bedroom at Phil's house but someone had packed in as many plants as could possibly fit in the space. There were even some plants that were in pots against the walls, the high walls that were bright white and reflected the intense light of the sun above us.

"This is one of the houses that belongs to a family member. The high walls of the garden help camouflage our comings and goings." Tam spoke in a quiet, hushed voice. "They neighbors might get freaked out if they saw us just popping into existence."

I looked around me, somewhat bothered by the fact that I could not seem to recognize even one plant in the entire place. _Well duh, you are on another planet. This is so freaky. _Obviously it was not like the island where the plants reflected those from Earth, here is was a complete different ecosystem.

We did not enter the house like I expected, instead Tam led me to a small iron gate that led to what looked like a narrow alleyway. As soon as we stepped out of the garden door the temperature rose at least ten degrees. The contrast between the garden and the alley was astonishing, we went from the vibrant colored flowers to the dull grey road and white walls outside of the small sanctuary. My shoes made small clicking sounds that echoed off the high walls that surrounded us, apparently it was not only Tam's family that enjoyed their privacy. Tall two and three story buildings went straight up along both sides of the road and were only broken up by tall garden walls, it really was starting to make me feel a little claustrophobic. Some portions had small iron gates where you could see other private gardens, others had small metal grates that seemed to be the windows of this place. I tried not gawk too much as there were other people around.

"Wow this is really hot." I was glad to be a wolf, since temperature did not affect me as much as it would another human.

"This is still early morning, wait till noon, then you will see what hot is." We strolled slowly through the street moving at the speed of the residents. I tried to look at them from the corner of my eye, so that they would not notice my perusal. They looked completely human to me, their dark hair and eyes would have made them more likely to blend in with people from India. The long flowing tunics seemed to add to this image, I was expecting the Taj Mahal around the corner. I considered sharing this joke with Tam but decided against it. Best not to make her think me completely ignorant.

I don't know what I was expecting from another planet but it was not this. Maybe green skinned little men with large black eyes; I had been watching too much television.

"Everything seems so normal, almost like Earth." I spoke in a hushed tone. The bells on my ankle were making small tinkling sounds with every step I took. "And what is up with the bells?"

"It is something that is worn by young women to signal the fact they are not married." She explained with a twinkle in her eye. "Maybe you can meet a nice young man here."

"But I am dating your son, remember Phil?" Why would she encourage me to go out with someone else, I thought she wanted me to have grandkids for her.

"You are not married to him." Came Tam's not so subtle hint and I finally understood. She paused for a moment letting that sink in before she continued. "If you were married you could go with him when he goes to fight."

"I was led to believe it took more than just a few vows in front of a priest for me to be able to join him in the fight." I knew for a fact that I would have to go through some genetic modifications.

"So my son has been talking to you at least about some things." She gave me a sideways look, as we turned the corner. "Yes it would require you to be genetically modified. You must be able to manipulate space and time. Oh and reading minds is essential as well."

"Why is that..." I started to ask but then I looked up. The houses were not as close together in this street, and I could actually get a good look at the sky.

I had never seen the sky this color, it was almost a shade of purple, this helped reinforce the fact that we were no longer on Earth. When I quietly asked Tam about the color she explained it was something to do with the Nitrogen content of the atmosphere being different.

"As to why you need to be able to read minds, there are certain things that we hunt that look completely human. It is only through their thoughts that we can tell they have been infected." She explained casually as we walked down the street, I was getting worried. What if someone were to hear us?

Tam must have noticed my paranoia because she was quick to explain that no one spoke English on this planet. The humans were brought here before English had developed on Earth.

"So what is infecting them." That seemed to be the word that kept popping up. Infection, the family members that had gone with Phil had used that word as well.

"There were not that many aliens, humans far outnumbered them. Humans are very good at reproducing, so when they brought us to these planets we bred quickly in their research labs. Think of humans as the white lab rat of the alien world, our high numbers were seen as a potential tool by some and as weapons by others. Someone, we don't know who, created a sort of machine-cell hybrid. These small creatures are capable of self-replication like a regular cell but they also have some components that somehow allow them to be controlled wirelessly." She continued her explanation as we walked along the street. There were more people around us now, they were carrying what bundles and baskets. Some were filled with unrecognizable objects and others were empty. The street widened to the point of it being a square, filled with people and carts selling all sorts of goods.

There were vendors walking around hawking their wares, I may not have been able to understand the words but their gestures and tone was self explanatory. _Buy my stuff, you know you want to._

We weaved our way through the thickening crowd, the number of people making it hard for us to continue the conversation. It helped that I was a little taller than most people here, upon closer inspection they tended to be a little shorter and stockier than I was. The combined smell of the people, various foods, and other things was nearly overwhelming. Especially after having been around only Phil in the past month, the island tended to be quiet for all my senses.

"Don't you just love the energy of this place?" Tam asked over her shoulder, as she pushed her way past a group of women haggling over some pottery.

I could see what she meant, this was life. Vibrant, loud, and smelly but life nonetheless. She stopped in front of a food stall, my stomach woke up enough to remind me of the fact that I had only had a bowl of cereal and that was hours ago. She bought us hot drinks and some sort of crumbly pastry wrapped up in a leaf.

It was surprising how vigorously Tam seemed to fight the man over the price, I had been under the impression that the family had a great deal of money. But maybe that was only on Earth and it was different here.

My eyes swept across the crowded square, it must have been painfully obvious that I was a tourist. It was impossible not to stare at everything around me, watching people fill their empty baskets I came to realize that this must be the grocery store of the area. Someone in one corner was strumming some sort of instrument, a small bowl in front of him asking for donations, it was hard to hear him over the roar of the crowd. Two children were enjoying the music at least and were twirling in the small space in front of the musician - I was willing to bet that the music they were dancing to was in their heads since their rhythm did not match that of the snippets of music I could hear. Children could be so amazing in their innocence, while the adults ran around hustling and bustling they found the time to enjoy themselves.

I could feel a small smile on my face as I watched their antics, Tam was right about this place in that the energy was high - if I had to use one word to describe the feeling of this place I would definitely go for chaos.

A few steps away a woman with her basket heavily loaded was frantically searching around, her face filled with fear - she was a tiny little thing but what caught my attention was the fact that she looked close to tears. I could not understand what could possible cause her that much distress, she was looking down at her feet and trying to see around the crowd around her. I would not have been able to see her had it not been for my height, sometimes it was good to be a wolf. It was not until she picked up a small rag doll that my mind quickly made the connection. Catching her eye I pointed at the two children dancing in front of the musician, she looked confused for a minute before pushing through the crowd and finding her dancing children. I smiled as she scolded them for merely seconds before sweeping them into her embrace, after she put them back on the ground she turned back to me and gave me a nod while touching her her fingers to her forehead.

"I can't take you anywhere, you see the need to play the hero constantly," Tam laughed next to me. I rolled my eyes as she handed me the good she had obtained.

She encouraged me to try the food with a smile, but she need not have bothered. I was a werewolf, I would pretty much eat anything. Well, anything cooked that was, I did have a few standards unlike my fellow wolves.

The food neatly folded into the leaf ended up being some sort of sweetened grain I could not recognize, but it kind of reminded me of oatmeal but it was more crunchy. The drink tasted like tea, but it was not like anything I had ever had before.

"Don't eat the plant shavings at the bottom, they are just there to add some sweetness." Tam warmed me as we weaved our way out of the market. By the time we were at the edge we had finished our small snack, she showed me where to place our empty mugs.

"If you look on the bottom it has the vendor's sign on it. At the end of the market day they come and retrieve their cups. Much better than styrofoam." We made our way out of the market, we were headed in the direction opposite but as we left there was one market stall that caught my eye. I have to admit that all of a sudden both my X-chromosomes decided to make themselves known, there was something pretty. Upon closer inspection the small stall was selling hair combs, brooches, and an assortment of other bits all made out gold filigree and pretty little polished stones.

"Oh that is pretty." I looked at display in front of me.

"Which one do you want?"

Suddenly embarrassed, she had already fed me lunch but I was not going to let her get me something this frivolous. "Oh I was just admiring them, I don't really want one."

"Oh really?" There was skepticism in her voice. "Is that why your thoughts are screaming: pretty, I want?"

"I don't have any money with me,"

"Don't worry a little quartz and gold trinket will not break my budget." I could hear the laughter in her voice. "Just pick one out Leah, if it makes you feel better this will be a great opportunity to harass my son about not buying you enough jewelry."

"He buys me gifts all the time," I defended my boyfriend, "he even spent the time to put the necklace I destroyed back together."

"I am just teasing you Leah, now make this old woman feel good and let her buy you something."

I could not help but laugh at her old woman comment as I looked back at the selection. "You say this is quartz, that is something we have on Earth too."

"Yes the pink stuff is rose quarts, and of course it exists on Earth too. You will have the same geology in both places since the rules of physics are the same."

In the end I picked a hair comb with delicate little pink flowers made of the pink quarts held together by the thinnest possible gold wire. Tam was happy enough to slide it into my hair as soon as she paid for it, the teeth of the comb were wide enough to hold even my thick hair.

We did not linger much longer at the market instead we left the large crowd behind, and I was able to go back to my earlier line of questioning. "So what does the infection do?" We the big group of people and could walk side by side again.

"We joke that it makes you into space zombies, but that would be a blessing." She paused for a moment and looked around seeming to gather her bearings. We turned down a narrow street to cut across to an even larger avenue. To my surprise there were people on horses here.

"Why are there horses?" My questions about infections forgotten.

"Oh, they were somehow brought over when the people were. They are very important, treated almost like members of the family. Never insult a person's horse unless you want to fight." Her tone was matter of fact but I could detect a glint of humor in her eyes.

"There are no cars here, but there seems to be electricity." I noticed the wires running between houses as well as the street lamps.

"There are actually motorized vehicles but this is the inner city and they are barred from entering. There is a fear that the pollution would harm these old buildings as well as the practical problem of the streets not being wide enough to accommodate them." That made sense, if their cars were as wide as ours there would not be enough room for pedestrians.

I followed the line of the avenue and finally noticed what was at the end, at the top of the hill was the biggest building I had ever seen. "Wow, what is that?"

"That is the palace, and our destination." She had stopped to look at the castle, I could hear the pride in her voice.

If this was the country of her father I could see why she would be proud. The palace gleamed in the sunshine like a diamond. The bright rays of the sun reflecting off the white walls, bright blue and green banners were moving lazily in the wind.

"We can go in there?" I could hear the excitement in my voice. I had never been inside a real castle before.

"Of course, we can be tourists for the afternoon. We can even go to the _Coiri_...you would call it Senate, if you wish to see the government at work. Depending on the topic they are discussing things can get pretty interesting." She started walking again and I hurried to catch up, not wanting to be left behind.

The palace was at the top of a hill surrounded by the white garden wall that was extremely commonplace here, I noticed there were guards with serious looking weapons at the gates but they let the crowds through with just a cursory glance. Inside the walls it was like an oasis, the temperature which had been steadily climbing became tolerable. Everyone gave a sigh of relief as they entered. The inside of the walls were not white, at first I thought it was a painting but it turned out to be a beautiful mosaic depicting what I assumed to be various plants and animals.

My initial assessment of the palace was wrong, it was not one building but many of them of different styles and sizes placed together like a misfitting jigsaw puzzle. The most impressive had to be the building in the middle, it looked slightly like my dream castle. For a moment I wondered what it would be like to live in this place, I pictured myself as the princess in a long and flowing dress waiting for my knight in shinning armor. Over the past month or so my knight had started to take on the physical characteristics and personality of Phil; so maybe I had begun to build my castle in the sky again. This time the foundations were a lot stronger, this castle would last.

"Do you like it?" Tam interrupted my daydreaming.

"Oh my god I have never seen anything like it! I keep expecting a sultan to come traipsing out with his turbaned head and curved sword. I can picture him yelling 'get off my lawn you hooligans.' Is there a king or raja or something?" The palace was much more impressive up close, even someone like me who knew nothing about architecture could appreciate the awesomeness of this place.

"No there is no king, but there is a queen." She told me with a laugh.

"But you said there was a Senate?" I was getting confused.

"Yes it is sort of like your country, with a judicial and legislative branch; except here the executive branch is not elected. The queen's family has ruled this country for millennia, they are among the longest lived monarchies on this planet." She looked around with a great deal of pride. "There are parts of the castle that are almost that old, though of course it has been added onto a great deal over the years."

We walked though the beautiful gardens, the people around here were a little different looking than those we had seen in the market. Not everyone wore the tunic and pajamas like we did, there were a lot of people with cameras and backpacks. They also had more varied colorings from the dark hair and dark eyes of the natives. Tourists, in shorts and what looked like a Hawaiian shirt. I guess Earth did not have the monopoly on tacky clothes.

Tam quickly walked past the larger groups to take me to some of the smaller less used paths; she appeared to be very familiar with the gardens as she led me through with ease. I was glad for it, the large number of people were starting to get to me. In some corners of the garden I could pretend that they did not exist, I had become spoiled in the past month.

"I never realized how much people get on my nerves." Honestly, I wanted this place all to myself.

"That is one of the reasons it is not a good idea to stay on the island for long periods of time. You forget how obnoxious humans actually are." Tam thought my sentiments were amusing, she must not have realized how serious I was.

"It is not that they annoy me..." I tried to explain how hard it was to have wolf senses sometimes.

"Get out of my way you mortal." She stood up to her full height and gave me the total impression of a queen looking down at the peons around her.

My laugh bounced off the walls, echoing back at me. We walked over a small bridge and looked down at the small pond underneath us. The sound of loud footsteps interrupted our solitude.

"Are you ready to face the mortals yet again?" She asked me holding out her elbow.

I linked my arm through hers as we headed towards one of the smaller side building, the guards were a little more diligent this time. We had to walk single file through a small tunnel that reminded me of metal detectors. With my luck of course I set it off, one of the guards waved at me to step aside. He used something that resembled the hand wand metal detectors you see at airports, it beeped when it got to my right ankle. I had forgotten about the bells.

The guard gave me and extra toothy grin as he flicked the little bells making them jingle.

"I think you may have made a conquest." Tam told me after I had been waved away by the guard.

I looked back over my shoulder to see the guard still staring at me. "Or maybe he is suspicious of the strange woman."

Tam's face took on a serious look for a moment, before she smiled brilliantly. "Who is the mindreader here?"

I decided it was best not to continue the argument, especially since I was dating her son. Quickly I tried to clear my mind of the images of what exactly I had done with him in the past few weeks. I was fairly certain that she did not want to know all the details.

We entered a beautiful room made of stone, since that seemed to be the building material of choice, there was a huge desk with several people behind it.

"You can tell what their jobs are based on their sashes." Tamora explained to me. All the people who worked here seemed to be wearing the tunic and pajama sets in a variety of colors. The guards however all had dark red sashes going from their shoulders to their waist. "The ones who maintain and run the buildings have yellow, those who take care of the animals and gardens are green, and the queen's personal servants are blue."

Looking around us I noticed both dark red and yellow sashes. We did not stop at the front desk like everyone else. Instead Tam led me down one of the hallways, she was pretty confident as she led me around. Almost like she owned the place, but I guess when you are several thousand years old you might know a few things.

The rich history that was reflected among these walls was beyond description, here I was in my element. I tried to soak up as much as possible as Tam walked me past tapestries, pottery and weapons. "We can come back another day, but if you really want to know everything you should bring my son Myles. He is the historian."

I don't know how long we spent wandering down the halls, there was just so much to see. "How is it that one family was in power for such a long time?" I might have only taken the first semester of US History but I had learned enough through the years to know families could not hold onto power for very long. Inevitably all dynasties would fall, whether it was due to wars, politics, or just poor luck.

"You already know the answer to that." When I looked at her curiously she laughed at me. "The members of the royal family have the spirit. It used to be a solely royal trait but there were some illegitimate children along the way and it became more common. Though it has really been diluted through the years even amongst the nobles. It is only in the past few generations that we have seen our kings and queen have truly powerful spirits."

"Where are we going now?" I asked quietly as we left the museum building behind, we were headed to another one across the way, there were fewer people going our way.

"To the Senate, it is in session right now, and unless I miss my guess they are discussing the budget." She gave me a big smile. "It is always amusing how heated the conversation gets when it comes to money."

We went through another set of metal detectors, this time I removed my bells and gave them to the guard before I walked through. The foyer was not as elaborate as the one to the museum, there was two curved staircases on either side of two massive looking doors that were thrown open. I could see the people gathered inside, there was a heated discussion going on with raised voices and flailing arms. Instead of going through the two large doors we headed upstair, to a balcony overlooking the gathering.

This place seemed a lot more casual that the pictures of the US Senate I had seen. The room below us was huge with tiers of steps that were half circles surrounding a large statue of a woman holding what looked to be a dragon's head.

Everyone was sitting on small cushions surrounding low tables that were covered with paper, pens, and folders. There did not seem to be a focus, or someone in charge; everyone was talking all at once. We watched the fray for a few minutes as the arguments seemed to heat up and get louder. I may not have understood the words but the tone and the hand gestures made it quite clear, there were some really upset people.

"This seems somewhat of a free for all." I whispered into Tam's ear.

"It is today, they are doing the budget. Don't worry the queen will reign them in eventually, I think she is just letting them vent their spleen for a little bit before she tells them to stop acting like a bunch of babies." She was assessing the crowd with a stern eye.

"The queen is here?" I looked around the pit below us. I do not know what I expected to see, a crown maybe, a big flashing neon sign. But there was not anyone that seemed to stand out as royalty. Just a bunch of angry men and women, it was interesting to note that there were about equal number of both genders in the crowd. I had noticed that when Tam had been talking about their history, it seemed equality of the sexes was figured out very early on in this country's history.

There was a momentary lull in the arguments and that is when she spoke, the queen. I don't know how I knew that she was the queen, but I was willing to bet on it. She did not raise her voice, but even high up on the balcony it was clear as a a bell. Her voice was crisp and each word was enunciated, normally when someone speaks another language the words seem to blur together but not this time. Each word came out clearly, distinctly and ringing with authority. Everyone stopped talking and listened, it was very impressive to say the least. I looked down to find the source of the voice, even sitting down she was taller than most of the people around her. Her face was slightly turned away from me, her profile was not pretty but strong; her jaw, her forehead and even her slightly curved nose all looked hard and added to the determined look.

It took me a moment to recognize who she was. "Sassy." I said a little louder than I intended. The people around me gave me a dirty look, apparently you did not interrupt when the queen was talking.

"Josefine-ki is what we call her here. That is Kendrick-ka next to her, the heir apparent to the throne and her right hand man." Tam told me quietly.

I looked next to Sassy and saw Kendrick sitting there. How had I not noticed a man that large? "Why did you not tell me she was queen?"

"You never asked me the queen's name." There was a small smirk on her face.

That was when I remembered, it was Kendrick that had gone off to search for my little brother when he had run off. I sent a prince to search for my little brother who had run off because his girlfriend was making out with another man. Come to think of it Sassy got to see me totally naked when she found Jenny and me in the cave. All of a sudden my face burst into flames. I know as an American we were not supposed to care about such things as titles, but there was just something especially embarrassing about the situation knowing you were seen naked by royalty.

My thoughts must have sounded extra loud because Tam looked over at me. "They are only considered royalty here, anywhere else they are normal citizens."

That is when it occurred to me, Phil had introduced Sassy as his cousin. Did this mean he was royalty too? I was too distracted with my thoughts and it did not help that I did not speak the language but I stopped paying attention to what was going on below me. It was kind of a shock when Tam spoke up and made a statement in a loud voice.

There was an answering question made in a sneering voice from below; someone did not like what Tam had said.

Tam spoke again, the authority in her voice convincing me of her certainty despite the fact that I had no idea what the heck she was talking about.

At this point Kendrick spoke up, I did not understand any of his words except for the Tamora-ki. I guess that answered my question, no wonder Tam had been so proud of the castle and history of this place. They were the story and history of her ancestors, her bloodline.

I watched as Tam really got into the discussion, it was somewhat amazing to see her go at it even if I could not understand a word. Her normally high energy level came out only in her voice, the rest of her body looked relaxed as she made her arguments.

When things got especially heated Sassy would chime in and seemingly redirect the conversation, you had to admire her skill and patience with this crowd. I would have been throwing things by now - especially when grown men and women began to practically whine.

Suddenly three bells rang all at once. Instantly everyone was in motion, gathering up papers and personal possession as they all got up and started filing out of the place.

"It is three bells, this conversation will have to wait for a few hours while everyone goes to get something to eat and take a nap." I followed Tam down the stairs, we did not head out the door like I was expecting instead we waited along the side.

Sassy and Kendrick came out the main doors, they had picked up a group of men with red sashes. The guards, I guess they worried about assassination attempts here too.

The queen was listening to someone talking to her as she walked by us, but that did not stop her from turning to us and nodding her head at us.

Tam took this as a sign to follow. "We just scored lunch."

Sassy and her entourage did not use the front door we had come through, instead we went outside through a small side door that looked almost like the janitor closet. They kept a quick pace as we walked across to the next building, it was the palace that I had seen originally. Only the guards remained with us, everyone else was left behind as we exited the Senate building. "This tower section is part of the original castle." Kendrick informed me as we passed through the large circular room.

"The ground floor is open to tours," Tam whispered in my ear, there was a group of obvious tourists being led by a yellow sashed woman.

Heading up a curved flight of stairs the guards abandoned us as well. "So how do you like the city?" Sassy asked me in a quiet voice as we walked down what seemed an endless hallway line with what looked like priceless pieces of art nestled into the crevices in the walls.

"It is very different than what I am used to." It was hard not to be shy all of a sudden.

"Yes I know, it was somewhat of a shock when we came back from Seattle last month into this." Kendrick's smile put me more at ease. It had not taken me long to get over my initial fear of Kendrick, the tattoos aside her really was a big teddy bear at times he was more protective than Phil - especially when I was sick and staying with the Cullens he would stop by and make sure I had everything I needed. Sassy had still intimidated me, there was just something of her demeanor that smacked of power and authority, now I knew why - not that I had done that much socializing with her, she had been somewhat standoffish in the past.

"If the guardians of a planet leaves for a little vacation, we all tend to go and do something else too. So when Phil left for the island we decided it would be a good time to come check up on things here." Kendrick explained as we walked down the hall, it was nice when people answered questions I did not even ask.

The people that we not encountered all wore blue sashes, marking them as the queen's personal servants. I noticed every one of them stopped and bowed as we past before they went back to their duties. I got glimpses of low furniture and beautiful pieces of art as we walked past the archways, there seemed to be few doors around here. Instead they had arches that were covered with some sort of cloth that could be pulled down to give a little privacy.

An older woman with a blue sash soon caught up with us and Sassy started giving orders, I was given a quick sweeping look from the other woman but after that I was politely ignored.

"She is the head of the queens personal servants, you might call her the housekeeper." Tam answered my question even before I could ask. This woman looked a little more capable than Cindy, our housekeeper back in Seattle.

We finally stopped at an archway that was covered with a gauzy piece of cloth, Kendrick held it aside as we all filed in. The housekeeper did not follow but walked away after a quick bow.

The room was made of the white stone like everything else around here but it was almost completely covered with beautiful tapestries depicting hunting scenes, as well as various animals and plants I could not recognize. There was a small fountain in one corner, the trickling water made a very pleasant sound. The center of the room was sunk in a few steps and contained the only furniture that I could see. Along one side there were some intricately painted screens that blocked out the sunshine streaming in the metal grates that were the windows in this place. The sunken-in area contained layer upon player of beautiful carpets, as well as a variety of jewel toned pillows. There were low tables with mosaic patterned tops and metal legs in various shapes.

We took our shoes off before we stepped down into the carpets. "This is amazing, everything here is a work of art." I looked around like a country bumpkin wanting to touch and feel everything.

"Sometimes I forget how beautiful everything is, it is hard not to take it for granted when you look at it all day and everyday." Sassy was not a pretty woman by any means, her bone structure and demeanor both added to the impression of great power. But when she smiled you wanted to smile with her, for a moment you forgot that she was a powerful guardian and a queen.

"No chairs?" Obviously a rhetorical question on my part.

"It really helps with your posture." Kendrick told me with a smile as he threw himself down on a couple of pillows. He gathered them up and rearranged them around his long frame. Yeah I could tell how good his posture was.

I tried to mimic Sassy and Tam's way of sitting, but I could not achieve that straight of a back when sitting cross legged. Sassy immediately had pulled out a file of papers and was quickly reading through them.

"I say you stop reading that crap and instead we just massacre the entire lot and start over." Kendrick suggested, his voice was muffled by the arm he had thrown across his face. He looked ready to take a nap, I was starting to see the merit in his plan, while the room was not hot it was still warmer than I was used to.

"The walls are white." Tam pointed out. "You would never get the bloodstains out."

"Good point, I always hate getting the blood out," Kendrick's voice sounded serious, almost like he had a great deal of experience with removing stains.

There was sound of a curtain being moved as two people in blue sashes appeared. One set down a small folding table at the top of the stairs while the other placed the tray she had been carrying on top. There were four small bowls and small towels. They placed them in front of us before bowing and leaving again.

"To wash your hands," Tam explained as she dipped her hands in the citrus scented water. The water was a perfect temperature, not too hot and not too cold. I wondered if this took a lot of training, making sure the temperature was just right, or if they had just put it in the alien version of a microwave for a minute and hoped for the best.

A few minutes later they returned and replaced our bowls of water with plates of fresh fruit and bread. Kendrick actually sat up for this one, I noticed that they gave him far more food than the rest of us.

He must have seen me eyeing his plate. "Death squad, remember."

I nodded at him, understanding what he meant, Tiffany had taught me all about the eating habits of a death squad member.

The rest of the courses came out in the same way, the old plates would be removed followed by the new ones. Sassy spent the entire time with half an eye on the papers she was reading, and the other part of the time catching up with Tam about family affairs.

"Speaking of family, tell me Sassy how is your mate?" Tam looked over at Sassy.

Sassy had a mate? I wondered who would be able to attract the attention of this serious woman? But she had the spirit so she would not really have that much of a choice in the matter.

"He was doing quite well the last time I looked in on him." Sassy looked up from her paperwork, a small smile broke through her serious face.

"I am surprised you left him unguarded." Tam continued her questioning. I was surprised as well, from my understanding they tended to watch over their mates with great dedication. Phil had gone to a great deal of trouble to make sure I was safe.

"That is because she went psycho." Kendrick interrupted his eating to share this tidbit about his partner. "She tagged him with a GPS and heart monitor. Anything funky happens and she gets a warning."

"It is not psycho, it is just being cautions." She paused for a moment hesitating for the first time. I could see her holding back whatever she wanted to say.

Tam all of a sudden became extremely interested in one of the tapestries hanging in the far corner. Kendrick visibly flinched, the smile fell off his face. It was then that I remembered why he had all those tattoos, his mate had died. For a moment there was an awkward silence.

"So what brought you visiting today?" Kendrick asked as he scooped food into his mouth, his momentary bad humor seemingly gone. This course consisted of some sort of spicy grain and vegetable mix. I had finally noticed that there was no meat served, I wondered if the people on this planet were vegetarians as well. I did not think it would be polite to ask about it.

"Phil is gone for the week, he has gone hunting for infected ones." I told him not really knowing what I was talking about.

Kendrick sat up a little more, this seemed to grab his attention. "Where is the problem?"

"Stef and Myles ran across something, but it was somewhat of a mess, there are a lot of old ones there so they called in back-up." Tam answered for me. This was new information for me as well.

She never had fully explained about the infected ones, I had finally got over the fact that I was around royalty and was ready to find out more about what Phil was fighting. I asked Tam to clarify what she had meant about the infected ones. Instead of Tam it was Kendrick who explained it to me.

Anyone could be infected, it did not really matter if you were human or an experiment. If these bugs got into your bloodstream they would attach themselves to your nerves, then you would eventually become a puppet. You would be stuck inside of a body that was controlled by someone else, your mind would be the only thing that remained yours.

"We don't know who controls the strings of these puppets, sometimes it seems like there is a larger plan but other times the only goal they have is to infect another person." Kendrick had sat up and was now gesturing with his hands, as if to mimic the puppeteer that was pulling the strings.

I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like to be stuck in a body I could not control. "I would go insane."

"This is why we need to have the ability to read minds, because you could be walking down the street and you pass a man reading a newspaper acting completely normal. But when you read their thoughts they are screaming for help." Tam jumped into the story.

"Can the infection be removed?" That seemed like the best solution.

"Some of the earlier versions we could rarely break the bonds with the puppeteer, but somehow it got upgraded and now we cannot seem to find a way to separate them out. So the only think we can do is to kill the infected. Sometimes the hardest part is knowing who is and who isn't infected. Occasionally we get a big infestation and find an entire town with nothing but those things." Kendrick had lost his smile, frown lines appeared on his forehead.

"So you just kill them? Even if they do nothing wrong?" I could understand killing someone who had broken a law, but it sounded like these people had done nothing wrong but been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I know it sounds cruel and wrong, but if you would only hear the thoughts going through these people's minds. They welcome death, and plead for it." Sassy had joined in on the conversation.

"So these are just normal humans? No special powers?" This was an important point, Phil could handle a group of humans.

"They are essentially human." Tam made a funny face. "Every type of human can be infected and they seem to get stronger and faster as the infection progresses. Plus sometimes it can be hard to tell who is and isn't infected, it is when we get surprised that we get hurt." Tam's voice became more quiet, almost like she was lost in a memory.

"The family fights these guys?" So if I were to join the family I would be expected to do this.

"Don't worry Phil will be back relatively unscathed." Tam did not answer my question, but then I already knew the answer.

"What do you mean relatively?" I picked up on that quickly. I had learned some of their tricks, in fact I had started using some of them, they would tell the truth but not the whole truth.

"Maybe a few broken ribs, but other than that he should be fine." Tam clarified for me. She did not seem too worried, for a moment I wondered if she just did not care about her son's safety. But that was wrong, the family was very protective of its members. She cared about him but she also knew his capabilities better than I did.

There was a lull in the conversation as we concentrated on finishing the last few courses. We did not stay long after that despite the fact that Sassy generously offered us a room for the night. Tam thanked her but said she needed to get some things done on the island. Instead we walked back to the walled in garden and jumped back to the island. The walk back was faster, since we did not go through the market.

Once on the island I walked home without paying attention to where Tam was going, I had not slept well the night before and I needed a long shower to wash off the dust and sweat from the little trip.

I still could not sleep, even with a psychic telling me he would be fine I still worried about Phil. What if he was surprised by one of these things? How bad would his broken ribs be? Could those things not puncture a lung or something? And what was this about Phil being related to royalty, how would a girl like me be good enough for him?

"No Leah, stop thinking like that, he already told you he loved you." It was bad enough that I was talking to myself out loud, but now I had started arguing. I wished I could ask my mother for advice, but that was one of the consequences of being with Phil. I would have to keep his family's secret forever, no matter what happened my mother would never know the truth about Phil. If I chose to fully join the family, she would never fully know the truth about me either. I would have to lie to my mother for the rest of her life, I loved my mother very much and it would hurt me to cut her out of my life like that, to constantly keep her at a distance. But there really seemed to be no choice.

I spent the next few days running around in wolf form, without Phil I could actually go further. I found several family member houses but I did not approach their doors, even had I wanted to it would have been hard with paws. Instead I enjoyed the pristine, undisturbed beauty of the island, and thought about my future.

As much as I enjoyed my relationship with Phil we were kind of in limbo, it looked like I had three choices. I could either learn to live with the fact that Phil would go off into danger and there was nothing I could do about it, I could break off our relationship, or I could go through whatever scientific mumbo jumbo they would do to make me a full member of the family.

The option of never seeing Phil again was not acceptable, just the thought of it nearly brought me to my knees. It would hurt me immensely to leave him, and I cannot even begin to imagine what it would do to him. He had spent the past two thousand years looking for me, he did not deserve the cruelty of being abandoned by me. So that left only two options, living in this limbo or going through the change.

I needed to know more about what actually happened, and I probably could have gone to talk to Tam. But for some reason I wanted Phil to be the one to explain it to me, since it would be by his side that I would spend eternity. Decision made I finally did not have trouble falling asleep.

I don't know what happened but all of a sudden I was startled awake; everythign seemed perfectly normal except for a strange noise. I sat up in bed trying to figure out what it was when I saw the lump beside me.

"Phil." I whispered, but he did not answer. He was fast asleep and the noise I had heard was his snoring.

I looked quickly looked him over to make sure he was all right, lifting the sheet up to get a good look. It was startling to see several large bruises covering both his legs and arms, but there was no broken skin as far as I could see. His chest was wrapped in an ace bandage and his breathing was a little more shallow than usual. Tam had been right about the broken ribs. Should he be sleeping with a broken rib, or was that only with a concussion that you were not supposed to let them sleep.

I quickly covered him up again, not wanting to wake him. I had never really seen him this deeply asleep, usually he went to sleep after I did and was awake before me. Now there were dark circles under his eyes; he looked absolutely exhausted. My poor battered warrior, I wanted to pick him up and squeeze him, but that might hurt his ribs and he looked like he really needed to rest.

I spend a long time sitting cross legged just looking at him wondering how I was going to be able to let him go out again. He looked so vulnerable and almost innocent in his sleep.

If you had asked me a month ago I would have sworn that I was going to stay with Phil, why else would I have thrown my body into the mix; but now in retrospect I realized I had been holding something back. He had promised me eternal love and then had set out to prove that day after day, showing me in deeds what he did not always say in words. I had told him I loved him but I had not given him my everything, not my total commitment. I had told everyone around me, including myself that I was over my breakup with Sam but I had held back some part of myself, trying to protect that small bit of my heart just in case.

Brushing a small strand of hair out of his eyes I whispered my promise and gave that final small portion over to this man. "I will be by your side forever and always."

That was when I was hit by what felt like a bowling ball, I lost my breath in a sudden gasp. All of a sudden it no longer mattered how my mother would react, the ties that bound me to her had weakened to the point of almost breaking. The concern for my brother and my pack all were showed aside as well. All that was important was staying next to this man, listening to him breathe and making sure that he would be safe. It finally happened, I had imprinted on my mate.

* * *

A/N: All right so that was somewhat of a behemoth chapter. What do you guys think? Sorry if there are typos, I should have re-read it again but I have to go and it is a choice of posting now or sometime tomorrow morning, I figured sooner would be better.

Domino88: There Phil is back, and he relatively unscathed. Leah's happiness is still safe :D. Glad you liked the chapter.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked the last fluff, did Tam live up to your expectations?

Connect2tjb: Glad you liked, getting closer to the end now.

Jaime2772: Glad you liked the chapter, sorry that you no get Phil. Kendrick so far looks available :D.

Twilighter: Um about jailbait, yeah got a little distracted though I did work on it some. Glad you liked the lemon zest. :D


	35. Decisions and Surprises

34- Decisions and Surprises

Sleep had evaded me ever since I watched Phil walk away from me, his movements sleek and confident despite the massive armor and weapons that he was carrying. Tam's explanations regarding where he was going did not help the situation, in fact it kind of made me even more worried. I had spent most of the time trying to distract myself from the images of Phil dead that my mind was all to happy to provide me with.

Upon waking up to find him safely sleeping next to me in the middle of the night I should have snuggled him and gone back to sleep. Unfortunately that is not what happened, I was beyond exhausted but I could not seem to be able to get back to sleep. A million thoughts per minute were flitting through my mind as I sat there watching the man that had become a vital component to my existence. The wonder and certainty that came with imprinting was overwhelming but in a good way. Memories of the past year came and went almost too quickly for me to process; there was one common theme to all my thoughts and that was Phil. For a while all of my "good" days had included Phil in one capacity or another.

"It helped that he is psychic and knew when you needed him," I whispered to myself, a small smile appearing on my lips. Regardless of the fact that Phil might be able to predict my bad days, it did not detract from the fact that he had been there every step of the way as I found my way out of that horrible time that followed my father's death.

The sky was starting to turn pink with dawn when I finally allowed myself to lay down next to him. Wondering why the hell it had taken me this long for me to figure out what Phil meant to me I heaved a sigh while snuggling closer to Phil, all the while trying my best to avoid touching one of his many bruises. It only took a couple of blinks before I fell into a deep sleep, the poor sleep of the past several day contributed to the ease with which I sunk into a peaceful oblivion. The sun was high in the sky the next time I woke, I was alone in bed but I was not worried since Phil's steady heartbeat was easily discernible a floor below me - accompanied by the sounds of pots being banged around.

There was my future house-husband cooking me breakfast, safe and sound at home just the way I liked it. My dream lasted only for a second, he would never be one to stay safe at home. But if I was going to be honest with myself, I would not love him half as much if he was the kind of man who ignored his responsibilities. The only thing I would change about the scenario is that next time I wanted to go with him, that option would be the only way to preserve my sanity.

Grabbing one of his clean T shirts and pulling it over my head, I headed downstairs. It would have taken too much effort to go grab some clothes from my room; all of a sudden I desperately needed to see him and make sure that he was still mine. When had I turned into one of these pathetic needy women? _Remember Sam?_

Sometimes I really hated that voice in the back of my head, the worst part is that it tended to be right. _Had you listened to me regarding what a fine ass Phil had you could have had him months ago._

I ignored the voice while taking the stairs two steps at a time on my way to Phil. It was a good thing I had wolf balance or I would have been risking breaking my neck at this speed. He was standing in front of the stove keeping an eye on the bacon he was frying.

"Morning Princess." He smiled at me over his shoulder, it was a relief to note that the dark circles had disappeared from under his eyes. The bruises, if they were still there, were hidden by his pants and long sleeve shirt. "What have you been doing with yourself while I was gone?"

He sounded casual like he had gone on a small business trip for the weekend, instead of heading to some strange planet to kill space zombies. If he was not already covered with bruises I would have been tempted to smack him around for a little bit.

I moved over to him and squeezed into his arms, it was kind of dangerous to place myself between him and the stove, but at this point I did not care. "I cleaned the house, went to another planet with your mother, and ran around exploring as a wolf." I looked up to watch his reaction. For a moment he looked startled but then his face cleared, he was so good at hiding his emotions. Would I be able to do that in a few centuries? Or would I gain the infinite patience Sassy seemed to have? The patience was highly doubtful, maybe you needed to have some to begin with.

"So where did you guys go?" He turned off the stove and shifted me so that one of his arms was wrapped around my waist. He grabbed the bacon with the other hand and moved it over to the counter where he had plates filled with a mouthwatering looking omelet and crisp toast.

"To her father's planet, you did not mention your mother was royalty." My voice sounded accusatory but I was in the right at this point - how could he not have mentioned that he was related to royalty? My glare did not last long under the power of those dimples, not that I was all that angry to begin with. I should have been resigned to the fact that getting information out of him was difficult, but I was just a little bit stubborn and he was going to answer my questions.

Heaving a sigh I gave into the dimples, resistance was futile. Standing up on on my tip toes and wrapping my arm around him I recalled that it had been nearly a week since we had kissed. I had just made my first foray into him mouth when I remembered that in my hurry to come down and see him my usual morning hygiene routine had been forgotten - I was probably rocking the morning breath right now. Trying to pull back without giving myself away was next to impossible, especially since Phil was very enthusiastic in his response. He tasted of mint toothpaste and a hint of orange juice. In the end I gave up, Phil was a big boy he was just going to have to live with my morning breath. The orange juice taste also helped, there was just something about Phil and citrus fruit that I really enjoyed.

"Hmmm I guess I should not tell you that my father is a tribal leader on his planet as well." At least Phil had the decency to look a little guilty before he started laughing.

"Yeah you should probably leave that out." No wonder he always had such confidence and authority, he was born into power.

"Your mother is one of the tribal elders, you are not exactly a commoner yourself." His smile was brilliant, dimples and all. It was amazing how much I had missed him in the past couple of days. I was turning into one of those sappy pathetic little girls, if i kept this up I was going to have to kick my own ass.

For now I was going to enjoy the moment. I reached up and gave him another slow kiss, this royalty stuff was really a trivial thing. I loved Phil and not his ancestry, though his mother was amusing. "So are you going to inherit the title or anything?" I might not care all that much about how blue blooded he was but it did not mean that my curiosity had disappeared.

"Trust me it is not something I want to do, the climate on my father's planet is a lot harsher, and people had to become a little more violent to survive. Sassy's court is about honor and tradition as well as the good of the people. My tribe is about might makes right, it is not uncommon for a discussion to end in a brawl." Frown lines appeared on his forehead, as much as he might wish to downplay it he still worried about his tribe's well being.

"Sounds like I would want to put off visiting there for a while." I was kind of glad Tam had taken me to her father's planet instead.

"You would do fine, your wolf genes give you the strength to pretty much win every fight and that would gain you a lot of credit with my people." He gave a small shrug. "But I would not worry about the royalty bit too much, my family tends to seek out powerful spouses. So most members have some sort of aristocratic blood in them. In the end we don't care where you come from so long as you do your job."

That reminded me of something we really needed to discuss. "Phil, I did not like you leaving to go fight those things, especially after your mother explained what these infected actually are." I got the impression that it was mandatory for them to make sure someone was infected before they were attacked, so even though Phil could handle most situations he could still get hurt if surprised. I would be much better for the job since I healed so quickly.

"I am sorry that I worried you, but there is nothing I can do about that. Would it make you feel better if I told you that I am not going to do anything foolish?" He lifted his hands up to frame my face looking deep into my eyes before giving me a soft kiss on the lips.

"You could take me with you." It was a legitimate suggestion. "I could watch your back."

"As much as I admire your strength and courage this is not a battle you can fight." He started pushing me towards the food, trying to distract me from my argument. My stomach decided to be a traitor and grumbled to remind me of the fact that I had not eaten well but I was determined to have my say.

"I know that, Kendrick told me all about the whole mind reading thing being necessary. I should have said I want to go through the genetic thing to make me one of you guys." I watched as he cleared his face of all emotions. "Look I finally did the wolf imprinting thing last night, so that is no longer a concern. I want to be with you forever, and this is the best way to do that." So that might now have been the most romantic way to tell him but at least I got it out.

Had I not been watching his face so carefully I might have missed the possessive look that came into his eyes before he carefully hid it behind his calm mask. He liked the fact that I was now irrevocably tied to him, but that was only fair since he was bound to me.

"Don't get me wrong I really and truly want you to become a full member of the family..." he paused for a second, I could hear the but in this tone. "If I may suggest you wait for a little bit. What I did in the past week does not happen all that often, maybe once every five years."

"Why would I put this off?" I started to get upset, did he not want me? I could feel the panic rising inside of me. My heart was beating so loud that it almost drowned out Phil next words.

He quickly pulled me tightly against his chest. "No, no listen to me Princess this is not a rejection. You just have to listen to me, just let me finish explaining, I want you of course I want you." He started rubbing my back, trying to comfort me and my fear began to subside; this was Phil, he loved me for eternity and he would keep his promise. "You have no idea how tempted I am to go and beat the shit out of Sam." Phil's voice was a growl.

"What about Sam?" I was suddenly confused, why was he bringing up my ex-boyfriend.

"I don't supposed you would let me kick him around a little bit, he would never know it was me." Phil's tone was starting to sound hopeful, "all I would need is a good hour. Maybe two tops, but that is all."

"Why are you trying to mess with Sam?" His words had not cleared up my confusion. He still had me pulled into his chest so I was not able to see his expression.

"He made you doubt yourself, and for that alone he needs to die," Phil's voice was trembling with anger. I had never seen him like this before and for a moment I was concerned about Sam's well being. "Don't worry I am a little too old to go around murdering ex-boyfriends."

"Well that is one less thing to lose sleep over," I murmured into his chest, inhaling my favorite scent.

"Leah you are a smart, witty and beautiful girl and that jackass made you question your self worth. As for you becoming part of the family we will discuss this in a little bit, for now your breakfast is getting cold." He pulled away from me a little to make sure that I was in agreement before giving me a gentle push in the direction of the food. I might as well power up for the argument that was coming; though it was probably going to be closer to a discussion, Phil never really argued since most of the time he stayed too calm.

It was not until we had finished with a second helping of everything that Phil finally brought up the subject again.

"Leah, there is nothing I would like more than to have you become a full member of this family. It would mean that you would be more powerful and much better equipped at defending yourself." His eyes were completely sincere, there was no doubt in my mind that he wanted me to go through the change. So I could not understand why he would want to delay this, those vampires would not have stood a chance against me.

I opened my mouth to speak but he raised his hand, it was his turn. I sat back and bided my time. One thing about Phil was he would let me say my peace, eventually.

"You would have to sever ties with the human world, including with your mother. From then on you would have to stay aloof. You spent so much time and energy getting into the University of Washington, I remember how excited you were when you got your acceptance letter. Are you willing to throw all that away? Give up on that dream of yours, especially when you don't have to? Princess, you are immortal it is not like you have to do things before you grow to old." His tone was soft and cajoling, but at the same time I could hear the steel underneath. I had almost forgotten how important education was to this family, he would not want to do anything that would interrupt my schooling.

"So you want me to wait until after I am finished with school, but then what about grad school?" Or come to think of it a Ph.D. if I wanted to go that route. I could put off joining his family for probably another ten years.

"It is of course your choice. But right now I would think it would be best if you stayed in school and earned at least your undergraduate degree." Phil pushed his sleeves up in the middle of the sentence, he tended to do that was when he was about to get into a longwinded lecture. He had large bruises covering his arm, they were no longer the deep purple of new bruises, instead they had faded to a yellowish brown.

I touched one of the now browning spots lightly with my finger. "In the mean time you will be coming home covered with these."

"I have a job to do." Phil sighed loudly, and pulled his shirt back down. "You are completely mistaken if you think that you will get a little shot of something and the next day you will be grabbing your gear to come with me."

"I know it takes training," I was getting frustrated, how could he not understand my need to protect him?

"It takes at least two hundred years Leah, and even after all that I guarantee there will be times when I will be hurt. It is the nature of my job as a guardian and when it comes down to it you will never be the one to watch my back. That is my partner's job." His tone was matter of fact, like it was all right for him to be hurt.

"So what you suggest is that I wait for more years and then go through the change, what about the vampires that are running around trying to capture me? If they are with the Volturi like you seem to believe they will more than likely kill me long before I graduate." I watched as he visibly flinched at my words. I felt bad about bringing it up, especially since we both knew the leeches had managed to kill me.

"Some things are hard to see clearly, I can be wrong but I have a strong feeling that the leeches not will attack you again. At least not hurt you, my spirit seems pretty confident in that." His eyes turned purple all of a sudden, he was trying to see the future. "There is something that is going to happen but you will not be hurt."

"What do you see?" I asked watching as his eyes turned green again.

"I don't know, this is not exactly a scientific process, sometimes the images are next to impossible to interpret. But I am fairly certain that you will not be hurt by him again; despite this knowledge you will ever be able to go home without an escort for the entire duration of your visit." His tone of voice told me that there was no way I was going to get away from that order.

I stuck my tongue out at him but internally I shuddered at the memories, it was kind of ironic if you thought about it. I go home to small town from large city and that is where I get attacked. "But this would be the perfect time to do this, I am here anyway." My stomach started to itch as my body remembered the attack, lifting my and I ran my palm over my belly trying to reassure myself that it was still in one piece.

"You are here.." He abruptly stopped talking and looked me up and down. His voice become deeper and I could detect a gleam in his eye. "What are you wearing underneath that shirt?"

"Under the shirt?" I asked confused for a second, before I realized what he wanted. My movements had raised the shirt to the point where Phil noticed that I was wearing nothing under my shirt. "I am wearing lots of things, my winter jacket...um," I stood up and circled around the kitchen counter trying to avoid him.

"Why is it that you only seem to be able to wear my shirts?" He started to reach for it, like he was going to take it away.

"How do you know this is your shirt, it could be mine," my voice was not quite certain as he tried to grab me, I barely got out of his way in time.

"The company name on that shirt is one that makes surgical equipment, somehow I doubt it belongs to you." He told me with a knowing smirk.

I glanced down for a moment to look at the logo on the shirt, I was pretty sure that this was the name of a type of beer - out of the corner of my eye I saw him coming for me. Quickly straightening up I ran for the stairs, it was only when I got tackled on the bed that I remembered his broken ribs. "Oh my god I am so sorry, do your ribs hurt?"

For an answer he gave me a deep kiss, licking the inside of my bottom lip before sucking it into his mouth.

"You are trying to distract me." I told him when we came up for breath.

"Maybe, is it going to work?" It was not really a question. He was well aware of the fact that I would be distracted.

"You are going to have to stop at one point." I whispered as he started licking his way down my neck.

"Hmm I think you just insulted my ability to perform." Seconds later he ripped my shirt in half.

"Why do you feel the need to destroy my clothes?" My protest was only half-hearted, since I was enjoying what he was doing far too much.

"They make crappy beer that is only consumed by hockey players and teenage boys that don't know any better; plus this is a much faster way to get to your breasts." He started nuzzling a nipple, before taking small nips around the edge of my breast.

"I should have known you were just trying to trick me about the shirt." My worries and plans for the future forgotten as I wrapped myself around him, I did not require that much convincing as I allowed him to distract me.

It was not until after we finished with our shower together that I brought up the topic of genetic modification again. We were back in bed together, I had helped Phil rewrap his ribs which were still a little tender. I was happy to note that most of the large bruises were already turning a brown and fading, he was not as fast a healer as I was but he seemed faster than a normal human.

"Tell me everything, I would really like to go into this knowing what to expect." I was drawing slow circles around his nipple ring as I lay in his arms. "I know that I pretty much have decided to go through with this but I would like to know more."

"A lot of things would be hard to explain, and some things impossible. You have to live through it in order to understand. But I will try to tell you about all the consequences, and one of the most severe ones I might even be able to show you."

* * *

Our vacation continued as before, though this time we added lots of conversations about the modification including explanations regarding life as a guardian. He told me things I wish I did not have to know about, but I was starting to understand that this was just part of life. The world was not always black and white, sometimes the white got a little dirty but you had to learn to adapt and move on.

"The family is constantly checking on us with regular mental and physical tests to make sure we are able to handle things. As much as it sucks to sit there and tell them about how you feel it is better than the alternative which usually consists of hurting the people around you." He gave a small shrug but I had learned enough about him by now to know he felt more deeply about it than he let on.

He continued to try to tell me things about life as a guardian, but he seemed to have a hard time explaining some of the nuances of the job. He tended to avoid the topic of what the genetic modification actually involved.

"Some things I hope you will never know, such as the loneliness that comes with being alone for so long. You will always have me, no matter what." He explained over dinner one night. We had been on the island almost two months at the time. "Speaking of being lonely, do you want to go out for dinner in a couple of days?"

"What, is there a restaurant on the island I did not know about?" I asked him while finishing up my lasagna, I had tried to make it again and this time he stayed around to eat it. "Or is my cooking that bad?"

"No, we would have to go to another planet, but I was thinking of maybe inviting Myles and Stef to come with us." He gave me a sideways look giving me the impression that there was something I was missing.

"Stef? Would that be the guy Embry imprinted on? Which by the way is very freaky." No one from my pack had heard about this and we had been too uncertain about what would happen between Stef and Embry to ask the tribal elders if a wolf had ever imprinted on another man.

"Actually Stef's full name is Stefanie, which means that you should probably not worry too much about it." Phil was quick to correct my mistake. Stef came from a planet where women were nothing more than property, so if she wanted to move through society and actually be useful she had to pretend to be a man. So it turned out Embry had not imprinted on a man but a cross-dressing woman, it was somewhat of a relief - except for the whole cross-dressing part but it was better than Stef being a man.

"Does this Stef know that Embry has imprinted on her?" I was starting to get a little angry at this unknown woman. How dare she just ignore something like this? If she hurt Embry I would not care if she was a guardian, I would find a way to take her out.

"The Embry thing is something Stef will have to deal with on her own time, we have not corrected the initial mistake your pack made because she asked us not to." Phil's comment did not reassure me.

"Embry might want to know." Sometimes the family's need for secrecy was a little too much. "He needs to be told all the facts."

"Embry is not bothered by this as much as everyone else seems to be, in fact he is willing to be friends with this young boy he has just met once. I believe they have been texting back and forth for a while now. Would it not be better for him to grow up a little and find himself before he gets involved in a relationship?" Phil sounded like he had given this a great deal of thought, and I quickly discerned Embry was not the only one who had been given time to grow up a little. In a moment of insight I realized Phil had done the same thing to me, given me time to find myself before starting that relationship. I considered what he would have done had I imprinted on him instantly, probably avoided me until he deemed me grown up enough.

"You sort of make sense," I grudgingly admitted, I had needed the extra time to figure some stuff out before getting tangled up with another man. "But what about Embry, should he not have a say in this?"

"If Embry knew all the facts there would be no choice would there?" Phil's commented softly. He was being given a choice by being denied a few vital facts? I could almost see where it was going, but at the same time I was not completely comfortable with this decision.

"Did you do that to me? Deliberately try to keep things platonic?" I turned around and looked him in the eye. I had already figured out the answer to my question, I just wanted him to admit it. Remembering the conversations with my mother where she kept asking me if he was my boyfriend, 'he is just a friend' I kept telling her - maybe she had seen through Phil's pretense a lot better than I. Though it could have been the fact that when a guy is friends with a girl people always assume that it is something more.

"Of course, but it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life." His voice was full of emotion, his lips curved into a small smile as he leaned over to give me a soft lingering kiss. I was ready to kick my wolf instincts again, why had I taken so long to imprint on this man?

Dinner with Phil's brother was an interesting affair, we went to some small planet that, according to Myles, was the party place to be. Everything was lit up with bright lights, strange music was blaring from open doors. The place looked very similar to what I would imagine Las Vegas was like. At first the overwhelming number of lights, sounds and people were a little too much but I got used to it quickly as I tried to take in the sights. Here I was, Leah Clearwater, from a small reservation in Eastern Washington. A girl who has never even left the country she was born in but somehow I had managed to visit not one but three different planets.

"Holy shit, is that a flying car?" Oh yeah I was the gawking tourist, but luckily it looked like some of the other people around me were doing the exact same thing.

"They are not as fun as they look, they are equivalent to the taxis of earth and visitors don't get to drive them." Phil explained as we walked through the night towards the restaurant.

"I liked Tam's planet better, it had a castle and everything," I complained disappointed that I would not get to drive a flying car.

"Karam, the name of that planet is Karam." He told me with a smile as he finally stopped in front of a brightly lit three story building. "This is S'oeli. But you have to wait until we eat before you pass judgement, that is one of the few advantages of this planet."

The place that I assumed was our destination turned out to be a narrow building nestled between two taller building, it looked a lot less ostentatious than its neighbors but that was not saying much considering this place. "So is this where we are meeting Myles and Stef?"

"Yes it is, I think Myles reserved a private dinning room so that we may speak freely. Not that anyone can understand English." Phil put his arm on the small of my back as he opened one of the wide doors for me. I was looking forward to seeing Myles again, my one and only impression of him was that he was somewhat of a rascal that liked to joke around - levity was something that had been missing from my life for so long that I could not get enough of it. I was also willing to admit if only to myself that I was curious about what Stef would look like as a girl. The only time I had ever seen her Stef looked like a well dressed boy, back then I thought she was a young man who was not quite finished going through puberty.

"This looks like a place you would film a cheap porno," I told Phil when we finally got inside. Some interior decorator certainly loved gold and purple, the inside of the restaurant was coated in a purple fabric with large golden accents.

"Myles thinks it is like a brothel, but you might be a little young to remember those." Phil explained with a laugh.

The hostess at the front greeted Phil with a little more warmth than was appropriate for a fine dining establishment. Her black dress was a little too tight and low cut giving the customers a free view of all of her assets. I wrapped my arm around Phil's and gave her a smug little smile that I hoped conveyed my message. I was going for back off bitch he is mine but it might have come off as an I am going to kick your ass smile. Either way my mission was accomplished as she lost her flirty smile. _Yeah you don't know who you are messing with._

Phil of course did not notice the exchange or if he did he chose to ignore it. He waved at me to follow the hostess, and at first I thought he was just being polite but then I realized he could easily check out my ass as we walked up the stairs.

Myles was already in the room, and he was quick to stand up and give me a hug. Stef was late but according to both Phil and Myles it was not unexpected. I was relieved to note that we got real tables with chairs, unlike when I had gone to visit Sassy's castle. It would have been embarrassing if I had to sit cross legged on the floor with this dress - oh yes stop the presses I was wearing a dress.

Well it was really all Phil's fault, he mentioned that this was an upscale restaurant so I would need more formal attire. Well I had no idea what I was supposed to wear so foolishly I recruited Aunt Katie to help. Little did I know that she would recruit Alice in this endeavor, needless to say I was not allowed to have an opinion regarding what I was wearing. They had even gone so far as to say that I had to spend the entire day with them while they got me ready, I balked at the idea but neither one of them would allow me to back out. I would have gone with the jeans and a t-shirt had I know what they had in store for me. I was just going to have to find a way to purge my memory of the past eight hours and concentrate on what Phil looked like when he first saw me in this outfit. I was fairly certain he knew that I was going commando since this dress was not made to be worn with underwear. It might be worth it though, especially with the heated looks Phil kept sending my way.

Myles and Phil both spoke to the person who I assumed was our waiter, but again I was on a planet where I did not speak the language. Neither Phil or Myles looked like they were having any trouble communicating.

"So how many languages do you know?" I asked Phil trying to distract him from his naughty thoughts, he might think he was being sneaky but I could feel his warm body shifting closer to me - I think it was a quirk of his genetic modifications or something because every time he got turned on his body temperature rose.

It was Myles who answered my question regarding their linguistic skills. "Too many languages, but Kendrick is the crazy one. One of his talents is picking up languages within minutes of hearing them, he pretty much pulls the words out of your mind as you speak to him."

"I am surprised you have not learned to speak my tribe's language." I continued to look at Phil, whose fingers had found the slit in my dress and were walking their way up my naked thigh. His movements were partially hidden beneath the table but I was still pretty sure his brother knew where Phil hands were.

"Actually, I am starting to understand more than you think. The pronunciation of some of the words is where I get in trouble." His words came out a little quietly, almost like he was afraid telling me this would upset me somehow. I did not really care, it was almost kind of nice of him to try to learn more about my people.

Myles turned out to be much more talkative than his older brother, and his humor was a lot more overt. We ordered drinks while we waited for Stef to show up, Phil ordered mine for me since I could not read the menu.

"Why does everything feel so weird around here?" I asked moving my hand up and down.

"This planet is smaller so there is less gravity." Myles explained as our waiter brought out or drinks. "Hey you want to try my drink?"

Phil interrupted before I could politely decline. "It has alcohol in it." He told me with a smirk, probably remembering the one time I got drunk.

"Are you ever going to let me forget that?" Seriously, a girl gets super drunk one time and cries all over a man. One time, and he never lets her forget it.

Phil took a moment to consider his answer. "Probably, when you do something more amusing."

"I am so glad my moment of anguish is entertainment for you," I told him with a great deal of sarcasm lacing my voice.

While we waited for Stef to arrive I looked around the place, the private room had a large table for six with wide chairs that fit even Myles' large frame. The table was covered in a purple table cloth and was set with some very fancy looking silverware and plates. One wall was nothing but glass that overlooked the large dining area one floor below us. If you were to drop this place onto Earth it would not be out of place. In one corner you had the fish tank full of some sort of jelly fish. There was the typical abstract art hung on the walls, though these ones all tended to look like naked women to me. The other patrons looked relatively human though their eyes might have been a little strange, with that silver sheen behind them but I could not tell from this distance.

Stef as a girl turned out to be an interesting experience, on the outside she looked like the most adorable thing you had ever seen. She could be described as a little dessert with her large pink and frothy looking hat and her matching pink pant suit with a black lace bustier underneath. She also tiny, barely over five feet tall if I had to take a guess. It turned out that while Stef might look cute and sweet she had the foulest mouth I had ever heard. She would have made my pack members proud, after she taught them a few choice phrases.

"You have to forgive her, she spends most of her time around criminals and so does not realize half the things she says." Myles told me at one point, Phil had explained before we came that Myles and Stef worked for Pasha to help her find and break up the criminal underground on her planet. They apparently had a serious slave trade problem, and since Pasha was emperor there as well as a guardian she got a little more flexibility when it came to interfering with the humans.

Stef flipped him off while she told me to stop by her lab in the next few days. "I need to check out which exact DNA modifications you have. Then we can try to tailor the next set of alterations so that it would not mess with my current ones." Her voice was high and soft, at this point I could not reconcile Stef with the boy I had met a few months earlier.

"So I will still be able to shift into a wolf?" I asked her excitedly. That had been one of my concerns, it was actually kind of fun doing the wolf thing.

"Shapeshifting is not such a big deal, you will retain that ability no matter what." She assured me, her confidence in the matter was comforting. Dinner ended abruptly when Phil was called back to the island for an emergency, someone in the family had been hurt and he was needed.

Phil kept me up half the night, he had been very enthusiastic about showing me how much he liked the dress as well as the fact that I had shaved places that had never been shaved before. Needless to say we were a little later than I had anticipated when we met up with Stef at the main house the next afternoon.

The whole check out I was expecting something drastic but all she did was put me through some sort of body scanner and get a swab from the inside of my mouth. I have to admit I was a little disappointed, expecting something more elaborate.

* * *

Dinner with his brother was not the only time we left the island together. I spent so much time talking about my visit with Tam to Karam, that Phil offered to take me back.

"I can call Sassy and we can go have dinner with them at the palace if you wish or we can just wander around the town exploring." He told me one afternoon while we were out picking blackberries for the cobbler he had promised to make me. I practically jumped up and down at the offer, I wanted to go back to the castle, maybe he would let me explore that museum a little bit longer.

This time we went at night and had dinner with Sassy and Kendrick, the evening air had cooled drastically. The oppressive heat was not gone, instead there was a cool wind that blew across the gardens only lit by a few lanterns here and there.

"You know your mother conveniently forgot to mention the fact that Sassy was the queen." I told Phil as we headed through the gardens straight to the palace. This time we went through the main doors, the guards there were expecting us and escorted us all the way to the dinning room.

Calling it a dinning room was the understatement of the year, it was actually an elaborate dinning hall. The place was so large that I was thinking my mother's house could easily fit inside, on the ceiling was this intricate battle scene that started at one wall and swept all the way across to the other side.

Displayed along the walls were weapons and armors that looked according to Phil spanned over a millennia of history. "Even now that they have what is equivalent to guns the royals still like to stick to their swords. Some of that might be my grandmother's influence. Considering her age she does not always trust guns and prefers a good blade."

As we weaved past the large stone columns I noted that the dinner table was rather small compared to this place. Of course there were no chairs, that would have been asking too much. Fortunately I had worn another pajama/tunic outfit, not that I was complaining about my clothes - they were both pretty and comfortable, something you usually very hard to find.

The table was set for six and there were already two people sitting down along with Kendrick and Sassy. The other couple besides us did not look like one of the natives - their lighter skin and hair tones made me think they were from another country. The man was much larger in both body size and personality than the woman next to him.

Sitting down next to the table made me feel small, "geez this place is intimidating."

"It is supposed to be, our glorious queen is trying to make this jackass feel small. Not that it seems possible, I am surprised his ego fits into room." Kendrick told me in a serious tone.

"Please refrain from name calling, it is always best to be polite." Sassy told me with a nod from her spot at the head of the table. She might have been looking at me but I am sure the message was for Kendrick, I assumed she did not want bring any attention to what Kendrick was actually saying.

"So long as you keep your voice pleasant and moderate you can call the guy a cock sucking, pox infested bottom feeder and he will never know." Kendrick demonstrated this by smiling at the man and nodding his head.

I could practically see the man's chest puff up in self importance.

"Stop it Kendrick you know Leah can't hide her emotions well as of now," Phil interrupted with an equally pleasant voice before saying something to the woman sitting across from him. She had been introduced as the man's wife.

Before we could say anything else the water bowls were brought out to wash our hands, interrupting whatever comment Kendrick was about to make. As the food was brought out the man across from me started to talk, I did not understand a word but Phil did do some translating for me. I really was going to have to learn a few more languages or else I would be at a constant disadvantage.

"The man wearing the black is a business man from a neighboring country, he is trying to bring a factory here but he needs the queen's approval." Phil explained as dinner progressed. I might not have understood the man's words but he still somehow managed to get onto my nerves. It must have had something to do with his smile. I am sure he was proud of his shinny white teeth, but a smile that big should never be trusted. His wife said next to nothing, simply nodded her head as he continued his sales pitch.

"Can she do that? Give her approval?" It was kind of strange to be talking like this when Sassy could understand all that we said. Glancing nervously in her direction I noticed her face gave nothing away of how she truly felt. Note to self, never play poker with her unless I am willing to lose.

"He wants to use a section of land that is part of a nationally protected region. Agreeing to this would probably bring in jobs and wealth, but it would not be without consequences." Phil told me in a low voice.

Sassy turned away from the man to look at me. "There are environmental issues that would be of concern, the location he wants is next to a major tributary of the river that is the water source for this city and several others in the region. It is also used by farmers to irrigate their crops." She turned back to her other guest and smiled at the man. I had seen her genuine smile enough times to know when she was faking it.

I don't know if he was stubborn or just stupid but surely the man should have been able to see that Sassy was not impressed with his constant chatter. She would nod in a noncommittal fashion every once in a while when he paused for breath or to shove food into his mouth.

"He is a self made man and will not take no for an answer, I don't think he understands the way things work around here. There are some things that are more valuable than money." Kendrick told me in an aside, he did not seem as bothered by the proceedings. But then he would not be the one that was going to have to say no to this man.

Sassy was slowly pulling further and further back behind her polite mask, as the evening progressed her responses become cooler and more terse - unfortunately for him the business man did not pick up on this.

At one point I finally had enough. "Please can I smack him? I promise I won't kill him, just break his jaw so he can't talk anymore." It was kind of fun being able to make these comments with only the family understanding me. The business man had deemed me unworthy of his time after simply a glance so I did not feel bad about talking about him.

I saw the side of Sassy's mouth twitch as she tried not to smile. Kendrick was not so controlled and ended up having to pretend to choke as he tried to disguise his laugh. I was kind enough to smack his back really hard to make sure he was all right. Kendrick gave me a dirty look before pretending to be engrossed in the man's conversation once again.

Otherwise the dinner was very good, Kendrick ended up telling me stories about Phil when he was a kid when the man stopped to breathe or shove food into his mouth.

Despite the fact that Kendrick was the one talking I was the one who got in trouble. I got dirty looks from the man's wife when my laughter would interrupt his sales pitch. She could just bite me, I was going to have a good time regardless of her husband's plans.

As the final plates were removed Sassy waved her hand at her attendants, almost immediately the couple were escorted through one of the archways. It was easy to sympathize Sassy's sigh of relief as they left, for a moment her posture became as bad as mine. "Now I just have to convince my Senate that this is the right choice. Some of them were counting on the new jobs to please their people."

Phil laughed a little at her comment. "Sometimes the hardest part about doing the right thing is convincing everyone else around you."

I listened as she discussed the issue with Phil and Kendrick. She was crunching numbers in her head, trying to find a way around it. I was pleased to note that she was willing to make people angry in order to protect the environment.

We did not linger long after dinner, I was somewhat surprised when Sassy gave me a hug before I left. "Thank you for joining us for dinner. Anytime you wish to come visit just call Kendrick or me. Next time I will try to avoid it being a working dinner."

"What she means is call me, since she never answers her phone." Kendrick told me when it was his turn to give me a hug.

We were walking through the gardens when we encountered a small archway in one of the back corners, it looked somewhat plain and boring compared to some of the other decorations in the garden. I could hear the trickling of a small fountain on the other side. I was about to walk past it when Phil stopped me. "Come this is something you don't want to miss."

I was ready to dismiss it even before we entered, there were so many beautiful nooks and crannies in this place that you quickly became immune to the sheer beauty of the place.

Phil led me through the archway and it was like a whole new world. There were countless flowers in the small courtyard surrounding the bubbling fountain. The moonlight made the flowers almost glow iridescent, in a garden filled with beauty this place stood out. This was mother nature at its best, simple but elegant in its own way.

Then there was the smell, it was so thick and heavy with the scent of the flowers that you could almost see it in the air. A person could get drunk on their perfume, no alcohol required.

For a moment I could not say anything.

"Do you like it?" Phil asked very softly, this place seemed almost sacred, it was so amazingly beautiful. "It is called a moonlight garden because it is meant to be enjoyed at night under the light of the moon and stars."

"I wish I could just live here." I whispered walking over and touching a velvety petal of one of the flowers. The scent coming off of it was intoxicating, I don't know how long I stayed there looking at the flowers glowing in the moonlight. For the next few days I spoke of nothing but the moonlight garden, finally Phil must have gotten tired of hearing about it because he offered to help me build on in the back of the garden.

"Are you sure?" I asked with absolute awe, he would do this for me?

"Certainly, Leah this is your house too. You can have an opinion about what it looks like. We can even redecorate from top to bottom if you wish." He told me in between soft kisses.

"How did I ever find a man like you?" I really was amazed how much he spoiled me. I probably should feel guilty and not let him but I was enjoying myself too much.

"Just lucky I guess?" He laughed. "Or it could have something to with the fact that you are a pretty amazing woman."

I had not been fishing for compliments. "Not really all that special."

"You lived through more than most people have to deal with in an entire lifetime. No matter how hard life kicked you around, you still kicked back." The admiration in his voice was evident. I kept wanting to check behind me to see the girl he was talking about.

It took a great deal of planning, much more than I initially anticipated to create the garden. There was a lot of foundation work that would have to be done, especially since we would not be there every day to take care of it. We had to make it be minimum maintenance which meant most of the work would have to be done up front; I wanted to use the same plants as were in the palace garden but that was not allowed since those would not survive the harsh winters. After some research we made a list of plants that would be able to cope with this environment. I fell in love with this little plant called Nicotiana, it looked unassuming and plain until night fell and then it opened up and let out the most beautiful fragrance. I also learned to appreciate how much planning and work it took to actually start the garden.

I was a little disappointed that it did not look anything like the one at the palace. Phil laughed at me when I pointed this out. "Those plants are mature, and it has taken decades for them to get that way. Give it time and you too will get there."

* * *

The night before we were returning back to Earth Phil offered to take me on a midnight picnic, so we packed up his backpack and headed out to the small meadow with the pond. We had been back here several times int he past couple of months but never at night.

Phil had brought along a blanket and after he spent an inordinate amount of time getting it perfectly straight I jumped in the middle of it and messed it up. I knew it bugged the snot out of him but I could not resist.

"Feed me," lying on my back and looking up at the stars above me I opened my mouth like a baby bird.

"You certainly are a demanding woman tonight," Phil told me with a small chuckle, I could hear him digging through the backpack.

The frogs were really going at it, sounded like they were still in the let's get it on mood. The cacophony of sound was the only sound in the otherwise tranquil night. It always amazed me how many stars could actually see on this planet, but I had grown up in a place where you rarely saw the stars so this might be what Earth's night sky looks like behind the cloud cover.

"I don't see why I would delay going through the modifications, maybe I want to be able to do this any time I wanted." I waved my hand lazily across the place in front of me. A few of the stars moves past us making small buzzing noises, the fireflies were out tonight as well.

"Time, it has everything to do with the flow of time. When you live for two hundred years, you will become vastly different. Not just because of the genetic modifications, but also because of the time. Your mother is an observant woman and would be suspicious if you came back after what to her was just a weekend completely altered. At least six months of separation is necessary to allow for an explanation as to why you are not the same girl." He raised his hand towards me, feeding me a tiny strawberry. These were one of the wild ones that grew in the woods around here, they might be tiny in size but were amazing in flavor.

The problem was that I did understand what Phil was saying, and if I waited a few years I could give my mother the full show, I could be the college graduate and make her immensely proud. Or I could insist on doing all this now and go back to my mother and keep her at arms length. Hell at this point I was already keeping secrets form her, imagine what would happen when the secrets became part of my body. At one point I would have to almost completely push her away, would it not be best to delay that a little longer. It might be kinder to ease her into this situation. "But then how would you explain my disappearance for six months?"

"You could say you have decided to go backpacking through Europe, you could pretend to volunteer with the red cross or you marry me and then we could go on a six month long 'honeymoon' during which time you could go through the change." His tone sounded casual, but it sounded a little too casual.

"Is this your version of a marriage proposal because it sounds pretty pathetic." I mean really? Was this the best he could do? "Anyway, are you trying to do this without a ring_?" I asked without thinking. Nice move Leah, could you ruin a guy's proposal more? But wait was he proposing?_

"A ring? Oh yeah I forgot about that part." I could hear the tension in his voice.

"No, no. I did not mean that." I tried to recover from my own stupidity. "I was just a little bit surprised by you bringing it up." Not that I had not dreamed of one day being married to him, but that was something in the future not right now. Plus I could not really tell if he was asking or not.

He shifted a little bit and got up on one knee. It was interesting to note that as he grasped one of my hands his fingers shook just a little bit. That was when the my mind caught up with me. _Mayday, mayday, pay attention._

Phil waited until I had sat up next to him before he spoke. "Leah Princess Clearwater would you do me the honor of being mine forever?"

My mind protested, all my insecurities suddenly came up to the surface. What if he got tired of me? What if I was not good enough? What if he changed his mind?

"I love and adore you, there is nothing I would like to do but to spend the rest of my very long life next to you. I spent the past thousand years trying to picture what you would be like and I have to admit that my imagination did not even come close to how amazing you are. I don't expect you to really give me an answer right now, I just needed you to know how I feel." Phil's pale green yes never left mine, I could see the love and devotion pouring out of him along with his words.

I looked into those pale green eyes of his and forgot about everything else but this man; I had learned the hard way that there are not too many certainties in this world but I could count on Phil. He loved me and I loved him, that was all that mattered everything else we would work out. I pressed my lips softly to his, trying to answer without words.

"Of course I want to marry you. I was just kidding about the ring, you don't have to get me one or anything. I mean eventually..." I did not get any further since Phil's kiss interrupted my words. I did not mind the interruption, especially since I was afraid if I kept on talking I would say something stupid, again.

Phil pulled his mouth away from me for a moment. "I did get you a ring."

"What?" I was confused by the abrupt change in conversation, it was hard to think when his tongue swirled around my ear like that while paying with my fingers.

He lifted my right hand and kissed the finger tips before showing me what was now on my hand. The sneaky man had actually been sliding a ring onto my ring finger on my right hand. How long had he been carrying that around?

I could feel my eyes bugging out. "Wow this is some engagement ring." Normally I was not easily swayed by jewelry but as usual Phil had managed to surprise me. I lifted my hand to get a better look, the band was intricately twisted platinum around a very large heart shaped pink diamond.

Phil was quick to correct me, this was not an engagement ring. "This is just a promise ring, a reminder that you will always have my heart."

"It looks like an engagement ring." I told him staring at the shiny heart, even the few rays of the moonlight were enough to light it up, the small moonbeams hitting the stone split into brilliant colors that scattered across my fingers.

"Are you kidding, what kind of a plastic surgeon would I be if I got you that measly little ring. No I will get you one that will make all the other trophy wives immensely jealous.

I could not help but laugh at his serious tone, there was my Phil, making a joke in the middle of his proposal. Or maybe it was at the end since I had sort of agreed to stay with him forever.

I looked at the man in front of me, and down at the ring on my finger. I would challenge anyone not to stare at the ring just a little bit. A promise ring, I could live with that for now - omething concrete to remind myself of his love. I pulled him toward me, ready to continue our kiss - we had never made love under the moonlight, this was a perfect time to rectify that problem.

I woke up the next morning in Phil's bed, not remembering how we had made it home. It was a good thing that Phil was so strong, that way he could lug my not so dainty ass around when I fell asleep under the stars.

I was somewhat sad about leaving this place, but there were other things to consider. I would never have admitted it to Phil but I missed my mother, so much had happened and I wanted to share some of my news with her. It bothered me all the things I would have to leave out, I should have been used to keeping secrets by now.

* * *

A/N: Sorry that took so long, mommy taxi is now fully operational and I have been too distracted to finish this chapter. It did not help that I kept getting stuck.

I don't know who asked a while back, but I hope you are satisfied with the explanations regarding Stef not really being a boy. Oh well I really got to run, I am sitting here all dressed up trying to finish this up before I have to head out for the day. I even have to wear heels today, gah I hate heels - the description of Bella tripping on nothing, that would be me. I was always the last one to be picked for the teams in gym...always.

Jaime2772: Some of my delay is your fault, sending me messages telling me how much you love some story. Of course I had to go check it out...very funny by the way, so long as I pretend they are not Edward and Bella...I really dislike OOC. As for your question regarding their outfits, something out of my mind but it probably resembles the indian sari (?) most in my mind. I have never read 'The Host' so I cannot compare my space zombies to this.

ABarbieStory: Completely understand the get busy part, it has been an exhausting couple of weeks with school starting for kids, glad you loved the story. I was worried about you not reviewing, as Twilighter has found out I am a worrier and my imagination had you washed away by Hurricane Irene several times over.

Visperidia: Glad you liked the way the imprint worked, I always hated the stare at girl and all your will goes away crap, it is a little bit creepy sounding for me. Thanks for the compliments, I was going to ask you which other Leah stories are good but don't tell me. I will go off and read them all and nothing will get done around the house or on my stories.

Connect2tjb: I tried to fix Phil's proposal, last time he was really awkward, does this flow well? or is it still too abrupt?

Twilighter: Promise I am working on jailbait. I have this perfect chapter planned in my head unfortunately it is a few chapters ahead... I really hate it when that happens.

Domino88: Glad you liked it, sorry about being so late on the next one :D.

toshii519: Yeah I had plans for Sassy and I tried to incorporate that into the story long before I told you guys about it.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked, Tam is amusing and I almost was going to develop Myles more but I thought that might be overwhelming.


	36. Bonfire

35 - Bonfires

We jumped to the small clearing next to the house in Seattle, the fog swirling around us was so thick that the mist immediately settled on our clothes making them instantly wet. "Home sweet home," I mumbled under my breath.

It was far cooler in Seattle than the island but it had been late August there while it was still May in Seattle. It was somewhat disconcerting to realize we had technically only been gone one day. The house was completely empty when we arrived, a somewhat unusual occurrence, but that would not last long.

Phila was still doing her thing somewhere else, maybe she was grading exams or something; Tiffany and Angus had moved to the cabin while Tam had been taking care of me after my encounter with the vampire doctor. Kendrick and Sassy were supposed to come back to the Earth in the next couple of days to continue their search for the leech who had attacked me.

"So it is only Saturday night here?" I asked Phil just to make sure. Would I ever get used to this way of life? Not that I had not completely and utterly enjoyed the time off from reality but it was very disorienting to think that for the rest of the world it had only been one day.

How was I going to explain the changes I had gone through to my mother?

Phil was at a loss for words when I asked him about my mother. "She is not stupid or blind, unlike her Charlie, she notices everything and needs to know."

"Good thing you did not inherit that trait." Phil teased, making me laugh.

My mood soon plummeted, my mother would not understand. "You are lucky in that respect, you don't have to lie to your parents. But that does not solve my mother problem, I hate keeping secrets from her."

I had never had to do that before meeting Phil's family, for a moment I resented that fact. The feeling quickly faded, even 'normal' people kept secrets from their parents. When Sam and I were together the fact that I was having sex with him was not something my mother knew about - it was best considering I wanted to live. The major difference was that there had been a chance of her finding out. When it came to the truth about Phil I would have to go out of my way to make sure she never found out - this secret would have to be kept for the rest of her life. Her very short mortal life.

"Leah, you need to stop worrying or you will have more grey hairs than I do." Phil told me while we settled on the couch together.

I laughed as he intended me to and pulled the tie out of his hair, his thick black hair was much softer than I had thought. "I don't think you have any grey hairs," I told him while running my fingers through the sleek strands.

"You can tell her you have imprinted, I get the impression that is the relationship get out of jail free card." Phil pulled me a little closer while he buried his head in my neck and started kissing his way up to my ears.

"That will come as a shock to her," I told him with a happy sigh as he finally reached my ear. "I go from bitch to happy in love over the weekend."

"You say it like being a bitch is a bad thing," Phil told me with a small chuckle. "It is hard to see the changes in yourself but I assure you that you have come a long way from that unhappy girl. Your mother would have to be blind not to notice how much you have matured in the past year."

"The imprinting thing might work, but I hate to use it. Why can't she just accept the fact that I am no longer a child." I grumbled while settling into a more comfortable position in his lap. "Hell the fact that I faced a vampire army should give me some points."

"In a way you will always be her little girl and it is going to take some time before she understands that you are an adult that can make your own decisions. It is a scary when you realize that you can't protect your child from everything. Some parents may overreact a little and become a little more controlling. I make no guarantees as to how long she will hold onto you, but eventually she will see you as an adult and you have your own life to live."

We sat quietly for a moment, while digesting all that had been said. Back to reality with all its complications, it was tempting to just ask Phil to go back to the island for a few more months. With a sigh I dialed my brother's phone number to see what he was doing but he was not answering his phone. "Do you think he is all right?"

"Why don't you call your mother and tell her we will drive up there tomorrow morning?" Phil wrapped his arms tighter around me and rested his chin on the top of my head. This had to be my favorite version of Phil's embrace, it made me feel like nothing could hurt me so long as he held me like this.

I laughed lightly. "Am I that obvious?"

"A great many things have changed in the past few months, you want to share some of them with your mother." His voice sounded so much deeper when I rested my head against his chest.

My mother sounded excited by the fact that I was coming home for the day. "Are you staying for a few days since you no longer have school?"

Phil must have overheard this part of the conversation because he moved away from me a little to frown. "Sorry mom, Phil has to work on Monday and for some reason he no longer wants me to go to the Rez without him."

"It is not like he could actually protect you from anything." My mother sounded a little annoyed, but much to my surprise she was a lot more understanding than I had anticipated.

"So we will be there around lunchtime tomorrow." It would not be a long drive since we would probably jump straight to the cabin, but my mother did not need to know that.

* * *

I woke up a little nervous the next morning, worried about what I would tell my mother about Phil. I was slightly afraid she would give me that mother look and I would spill my guts. The large breakfast I had consumed sat rather heavily on my stomach, I should have eaten less. But how can you say not to a second and third helping of french toast casserole with caramel pecan topping?

"I got you a necklace, for your ring." Phil told me as we got ready to go. I gave him a questioning look. "I just thought you might want to ease your mother into it, but you can wear your ring if you like."

I looked down at my right hand, my mother was part eagle and had excellent eyesight. There would be no way she would miss this rock on my finger, it sheer size and beauty made it so that even the most unobservant people would see it. For a moment I considered taking Phil up on his offer but I would have to tell her sometime. Maybe the ripping the bandaid off all in one swoop would work best. "Thank you, but I think I will keep it on, she find out soon enough no matter how much I might try to hide it."

When we arrived at the cabin it was empty as well. "Where is everyone?" Tiffany and Angus' scents were pretty strong, they had been here recently. I noticed a couple of bowls sitting on the drying rack next to the sink, so they had breakfast but had not stuck around.

"Tiffany and Angus are out and about the Rez doing their guardian stalking thing. Kendrick called me, they are planning on coming here sometime tomorrow, I think they had a few loose ends in Karam." Phil told me as he found the keys to the truck, I guess we were going to drive that to my mother's house. "I should warn you, your mother may have told a few people that you were coming back for a visit."

"Define a few people?" I asked him suspiciously. Phil's tone was neutral, which was never a good thing.

Phil opened his mouth but then closed it again with a snap, I knew that look. He was trying to find the right words to give me some vague answer.

"All right enough with the psychic mumbo jumbo just give me a clear answer." He was so frustrating at times. "Clear and precise answers Phil, that is all I need. Tell me my mother is having an all out rave with techno music and disco lights."

Phil laughed at my joke before sobering up. "They are planning a bonfire tonight, you will be expected to attend. Your mother and several members of the tribe are currently occupied with setting up for the events this evening." Phil watched me carefully as he spoke, waiting for me to explode.

I too waited for my temper to rise, but for some reason it did not. My pack members would be easily handled, not that they would need much of an explanation. They knew who Phil and his family were and I would not have to keep Phil's secrets from them, not that the little brats would not use this to as an opportunity to mess with me. However when it came down to it they would support me and kick the ass of any outsider who picked on me. It would be nice to see them all, not that I would ever admit it out loud but I had missed the punks.

Unfortunately if this was a true bonfire, with the elders and all, Sam's pack would be there as well. I had told my mother the truth, I no longer gave a shit what his pack thought or did. Not so long ago it had been the complete reverse, I may have told everyone that I did not care but I spent my entire time trying to make everyone around me miserable - a clear sign that I had been lying about the not giving a crap bit. Now I could safely say I did not care about them, I did not wish them ill or anything like that. I thought of them as a stranger you passed in the street, you would not be hoping they were hit by a bus but neither would you spend days agonizing over the fact that they were.

"Well I actually wanted to talk to my mother but what the hell, the entire pack will find out at one point." Phil was looking at me like I had all of a sudden sprouted horns out of my head. I could not help but laugh at his expression. "Don't worry Phil, everything is cool." I gave him small kiss just to prove my point before taking a hold of his hand and pulling him towards the garage. It helped that I had spent the past couple of months without having to deal with people.

"You know what this means don't you?" Phil asked me as we drove towards the Rez. It was a rhetorical question so I waited for him to continue. "Now all of a sudden I know that they are wolves, so since I am a human..."

I saw where he was going, the disgust in his voice made me laugh. "So now you are going to have to act like they can kick you ass. Are you scared?"

"It is not really funny, because of my sheer size I could take on most people, even if I only had human strength." He was grumbling and mumbling under his breath.

"Don't worry baby. I will protect you." I teased my serious mood lifting, I was beginning to think he planned this, the grumbling to make me laugh. "Does it bother you that I am stronger than you?" Technically speaking I was the stronger of the two of us, but when it came to a fight I knew Phil could easily take me down.

"Not at all, it means you can protect yourself." Phil turned back to driving, I continued to stare at his profile for a few minutes. He had given hints previously that my strength would be an asset, so in this instance more than likely he was telling me the truth. Maybe he was old enough that he did not feel that my wolf strength was an affront to his masculinity.

We were almost to my mother's house when I noticed several people heading to the cliffs, they were carrying folding chairs and coolers. I directed Phil to drive the truck that way. I really hoped that this bonfire was to teach some of the younger wolves about the legends and it had nothing to do with the fact that I had come home.

For a moment I could not help but laugh at myself. It was somewhat egotistical of me, but the small handmade sign at the entrance to the Rez that said "Welcome home Leah" should have clued me into the fact that I would not be able to stay out of the center of attention today. More than likely I was not going to be able to talk privately with my mother, she was going to learn about my imprinting when everyone else did.

Phil had to slow down so as not to run over people as he tried to get closer to the cliffs.

"It will not bother me if you run over a few of them. Just make sure they are wolves, they will heal eventually." I told him as he drove up the narrow road.

Phil gave me short barking laugh as he came to a stop. He was a gentleman of course and came around to open my door for me. "Thank you kindly." I told him before giving him a quick kiss on the lips. I looked away from Phil to see people starring at us, you would think they had never seen someone kiss before.

Their momentary surprise allowed me to walk past several people without stopping to talk. I grabbed Phil's hand and weaved our fingers together as I pulled him towards the large pile of wood that would soon become the bonfire. So this was going to be a hard core party, at least the size of the bonfire seemed to indicate this.

I found my mother talking to Emily, Sam was sitting on a log watching them. He looked more mellow than I had seen him in over a year, maybe marriage was a good thing for him. Emily had changed her hairstyle, she still had the long hair in braids but now she had bangs that conveniently curtained the scar on her face. She also had a small gold ring on her left hand, it was interesting to note that Sam was not wearing his but maybe he would be afraid of losing it when he shifted. Other than that she looked exactly the same, nothing much had changed around these parts. In some ways that was a good thing, but sometimes a little change could do a world of good.

"Leah, oh let me look at you." My mother moved to envelope me in a hug as soon as she noticed me, for a moment I was surprised by the level of affection. Usually I did not get such a warm greeting but it might have just been the fact that I got recently hurt. "You cut your hair?"

"Yeah it was getting a little long." _Especially since it has been three months since you last saw me._ It would have been kind of awkward trying to explain how it had gotten that long in the couple of weeks since I had been back here. I had also let Aunt Katie talk me into the slightly coppery highlights, they were a lot less dramatic than the pink ones she originally wanted me to try. In retrospect I was suspicious that her suggestion of the bright pink color was a way for me to accept the much less drastic bronze - yeah I was pretty sure that she had conned me but I did not care since my hair looked good.

"Let me see your arm. Is it all healed up?" My mother started to push the sleeve of my long sleeve shirt up so that she could look at my arm but was almost instantly distracted. "What is that?" Her voice came out sounding like a squeak.

It took me a moment to see what she was freaking out about. For better or for worse my mother had seen my ring.

Maybe I should have taken Phil's offer and put my promise ring on a necklace. As far as my mother was concerned she only knew about our relationship for a couple of weeks. It was not like I could tell her about the past three months we had spent together at his house - I don't know what would be worse, the fact that we were on another planet or that we were alone. It must be a shock to see me jump from dating to wearing a ring - from my mother's perspective it would have been a drastic move.

"What is the matter mom?" The best option seemed to play dumb, so I went with a neutral tone.

"That ring? Are you engaged?" Emily chimed in with astonishment, she seemed to have found her voice before my mother could. She was starring at the ring on my finger with what looked to be a combination of surprise and awe.

"This is not an engagement ring." So maybe Phil had proposed spending forever together but he had not asked me to be his wife, so this ring was technically not my engagement ring. All of a sudden I felt extremely guilty, maybe I should have waited and worked towards this revelation. "It is just a promise ring."

My mother gave me a skeptical look before looking over at Phil who was leaning against a tree nearby. "What have you talked my daughter into?"

"It is her choice, it will always be her choice." The certainty and determination in Phil's voice made my mother pause for a moment.

"What about finishing college? Is that all out the door now?" My mother turned back to me.

The fact that my mother assumed I would just get married and give up on all my dreams was pissing me off. How dare she think so little of me? I opened my mother to say something rude, but fortunately for me I saw Phil shake his head out of the corner of his eye. _He was right this was not the time to pick a fight._ So instead I took a deep breath and tried to explain where things were going with my life. It helped that Phil stepped beside me and wrapped his steady hand around my currently shaking fist. I don't know why my mother's speculation regarding my future plans made me so angry, but it sure as hell did.

"Mom, I am not planning on doing anything drastic like getting married," _or genetically modified,_ "before I finish college. Phil and his family firmly believe in getting an education. They will fully support me in whatever field I wish to pursue."

"You are also forgetting the practical aspect of this." Phil continued when I paused to take a breath.

"And what would that be?" My mother's look was a combination of skeptical and reluctant. Maybe I was making her understand my position a little.

"She will get my financial support, no need for her to worry about tuition or food or housing. If she wants to quit her job and take more courses that is an option that I can provide." Phil's tone stayed steady and calm, as always it leeched some much needed serenity into my mind.

His certainty was something I could draw strength from. He was absolutely right on the topic of money. As much as people like to say "all we need is love" it was also nice not to have to worry about paying the bills. I would not condone staying with someone who you did not love just for the money, but if you already loved them why would you not take the money as a perk of the relationship.

My mother lost some steam at this point, but she still tried to convince me not to "get married".

I was making little headway in my attempt to explain to my mother that I was not getting married anytime soon. Sadly after all my talking it was Phil who finally made her pause to consider what I was saying.

"Do you honestly think that ring would be good enough for a plastic surgeons wife?" His tone sounded bored.

My mother looked at him confused for a minute before narrowing her eyes. "So what does a promise ring entail if not an engagement?"

"An elaborate way of saying I am your boyfriend. But as a side benefit men will assume it is an engagement ring and know she is taken." He winked at me as he said this but I not think he was entirely joking. My mother let the subject drop soon after that, but I could tell it would be something we would be "discussing" again.

Much to my embarrassment the party turned out to be partially a thank you for helping save Emily and Claire from the evil Doctor Leech.

"I told them you would not like this, but they insisted." Seth came up to me giving me a hug.

"I missed you, little brother." I hugged him back squeezing as hard as I could. There was so much I could not tell him, at least not with all of Sam's pack hanging around.

He gave me a quick look of understanding, he knew about my plans regarding the island and the reasons why I needed to go there. "Are you all healed up?"

"Yes, everything is back to normal, including my quick ability to heal. Phil was kind of psycho about that part. I think I freaked him out a tad when I got hurt." Sometimes when I would wake up in the middle of the night, Phil would be there watching me sleep. Some would have been a little freaking out over the prospect of having him hovering but I understood his fear. After he had come back all bruised from his little trip I had found myself just starring at him, listening to his heartbeat and reassuring myself he was still with me.

"Phil was not the only one you freaked out." He shuddered for a moment. "Try not to pick anymore fights like that."

"Hey you should have seen the other guys." I told him half jokingly, trying to bring a bit of levity into my all of a sudden serious brother. My little brother was at times much too old for his body, part of it was his personality the other part was due to what he had lived through in the past year. I tried to mentally take a step back and take a good look at him.

My life was pretty much the way I wanted it to be, so some of the details still needed to be worked out - but the major stuff was solid. I had Phil and my future with him, a lot could happen but I could always count on Phil. Come to think of it I could count on his family as well. I also had my school, I looked forward to knowing more about history. The need for knowledge had settled into me - I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be with Phil, I wanted to be part of his family and all the responsibilities that came with than, and I wanted to learn.

The past year for my brother had not been much different from mine. When the newborns came to town Sam had tried to give Seth the easy job of being wolf cell phone so that he could stay out of trouble. Things had not quite worked out all that well. My little brother had to take on a newborn all by himself, and he had done a much better job than I had. Like the rest of the pack he had faced certain death, over and over again. Last December he had been the optimistic little annoying pest but underneath all that there was a glimmer of doubt, he had known we might not make it out alive but he was not going to let it get to him. My brother was eternally optimistic but he was not an idiot. A close brush with death alters a person no matter who you are, and both my brother and I had several of those instances over the past year. Then there was that little slut Jill, who managed to cheat on my little brother - who the fuck would cheat on Seth? We both had to deal with rejection, though Sam rejecting me had been a little more severe it did not change the fact that Seth had been betrayed as well.

It was a testament to how selfish I was that I had completely forgotten that my little brother lost a father, too. Seth had been only fourteen when our father died, still a child in some ways. He had to take on the responsibilities of an adult, while still on the cusp of manhood. I on the other hand had reverted to throwing tantrums like a five year old.

Maybe it was time to get to know my little brother a little more. Chances were that I would have to live without him eventually, he would find a nice girl, stop shifting and age. He would be gone from me sooner than later - Phil had warned me about this consequence of being immortal. But just because I understood that I would eventually outlive my human friends and family did not mean I had to like it. What would happen if Seth imprinted on a girl like Jill and she did not appreciate what a great person he truly was? I was starting to get angry just thinking about the little bitch, whoever she may be, maybe I could threaten her with dismemberment if she ever hurt him - Phil would help me out there.

"What are you going to do now?" Seth brought me back to the present. He pointed to the ring on my right hand.

"Nothing much changes, I still have to get my degree. So I will be sticking around Seattle for a while." I shrugged, it was impossible to talk to him here, there were too many people that could overhear our conversation. Maybe I would convince him to come up and stay with us in Seattle for a week or so once his school ends. "Speaking of school, how is yours going?"

This time it was Seth that shrugged. "School is boring, don't really see much use in it. Kendrick has been pushing me hard, but with all that has been going on with that vampire that attacked you school is not my number one priority."

"Hey, school is the only way to get off the Rez. Do you want to be here forever? Or do you want to go see the world?" It frustrated me how little he cared about an education.

"Leah, you were the only one that wanted to leave this place. The rest of us are fine, I can help mom with her business." Unlike most people Seth did not resent me for that fact that I had left home. He wanted me to be happy, that is all. Some people thought that Seth was not genuine in his goodwill but in all the years I had known him and even when sharing his thoughts I had encountered nothing but kindness. It kind of made you want to kick his ass.

"But would it not be better to get an accounting degree or some sort of business degree? Things are not as simple as they used to be, especially when you start getting into complicated things like sales tax." As much as my people would like to preserve the old ways there were some things that would need to change or else they would become totally obsolete. The bonfire was a beautiful was of telling others of the stories of my people, but it was very unreliable. What if someone died before they could teach their stories to the next generation? How much had already been lost? I know Emily was trying to put some of this on paper but it was doubtful that she had the skills to do it accurately or permanently. Maybe I could look into an academic way of recording the stories, I could ask my advisor.

"I am only fifteen, I still have a couple of years left before I have to decide." Then Seth started to laugh. "You really are going to be one of them? Already you are pushing education."

I laughed as well, Seth was right I was turning into one of them, a member of the family - but that was a choice I made. Was I trying to take away Seth's choices? "I just want you to have options, and trust me when I say there is more to life than what can be found on the Rez."

Seth seemed to consider what I told him as he wandered off to talk to Embry, but he was that sort of person - one who considered everyone's feelings and opinions. Phil found me standing off to the side, he had been helping my mother with the setup for the bonfire. Our non-engagement had given her enough authority to start ordering Phil around; it was like he was one of the family already.

"What has you so quiet?" He wrapped me in his arms, my favorite place to be. I looked out at the ocean. How many lovers had embraced while watching the waters swirl and move? How many sisters had looked over the gray and blue mass while worrying about their sibling's futures?

"My brother Seth, he does not take education seriously." I laughed a little, but at the same time I was nervous. I had made mostly A's and B's in school which helped me to get into the college of my choice. The decisions and effort my little brother put into his education now would determine what doors would be open. "I just want him to have options."

"Don't worry about Seth, he does not have the motivation to learn just yet." Phil looked towards the water, but that was not what he was seeing.

"What are you hiding from me now?" There was something he was not telling me, I could not pinpoint a particular reason for my suspicion but I was still certain of my conclusion.

"Why do you think I am hiding something?" Phil asked looking back at me, but his eyes were shuttered.

I became even more certain that he was hiding things, and I was beginning to suspect it involved my little brother somehow. "You will tell me." The determination in my voice startled him.

_Now is not the time or the place, but you will know soon enough. I am sorry but this is not my secret to share._ I could hear the words in my head. It reminded me of the fact that we were not alone, there were others around us with very good hearing.

I opened my mouth to protest but quickly closed it again - two could play this game. _You will explain this very soon._ I thought as loudly as I could.

Phil was saved from further interrogation by my mother. "Leah I need to talk to you for a minute...alone please." She added the last part when I did not move to follow her quickly enough.

Phil gave me a small push and a wink, he seemed utterly relaxed. So this was not going to be something to worry about, at least that was my interpretation of his gestures.

It turned out that my mother's problem had to do with Phil attending the bonfire. "It is not good to expose him to many of our legends, he might figure out the tribe secret. I know he knows some things but there is a difference between suspicion and confirmation."

I gave a big sigh, no this was not life threatening problem but she was determined to hash it out right now - I would have preferred to tell my mother this on my own terms, and not with half of Sam's pack listening to the conversation. "Mom, if you want him to leave I am sure he will." She seemed relieved, she did not know I was not done yet.

I don't know why I was reluctant to tell my mother I had imprinted, maybe it was because this felt like someone was forcing me into it. Meeting Phil, getting to know him, and learning to love him with all my heart had taken a great deal of time and consideration on my part. I normally was not a private person but I bristled at the thought of having to reveal all this to the curious bystanders, I was enough of a freak as the only female wolf without the added fact that I had now imprinted. At first they had the decency to pretend they were not listening to my conversation with my mother, but now even that had disappeared as several people openly stared.

"There is one thing you should know mother, if Phil leaves... then so do I." This was not a threat, it was simply me stating a fact.

My mother's eyes got huge at my words, she finally was starting to understand my attachment to Phil. It would have been amusing had I not been so annoyed, as I looked around it was hard not to notice that everyone had stopped what they were doing and were intently watching my mother and me. The glare I sent in their general direction did not seem to matter. This shit was none of their business, why could they just not go away?

"Oh you have imprinted." My mother said in a whisper. "Why did you not say so in the first place?"

"Because I don't want some stupid wolf thing to matter. What matters is how I feel about a man I got to know. I did not just get the instant imprint like the boys do, I had to actually work for it. So pardon me if the whole imprinting thing is not so important. There are things that I value more." I finally lost my grip on my temper and stormed off like a petulant five year old. I knew it was not the best way to relay the fact that I was a mature adult now but I had learned my limits and the alternative was to yell.

I found Phil talking to Jake, I had had enough of this crap. I wanted to go home and come back when I could talk to my mother without the entire tribe listening in. They were starting to make me feel like it would not be a bad thing to start inviting my mother to Seattle instead of coming here.

"Hey Leah, how is it going?" Jake was one of the normal ones, I could actually tolerate him.

"Hello oh glorious leader." I told him by way of greeting, some habits were hard to break. Giving Jake a hard time about being the alpha of our small pack was one of them.

"You can cut the crap, I am on to you now." Jake gave me his high wattage smile.

"So how have you been?" I asked him giving him a slight shove, you had to keep Jake in his place or he might let his alpha status get to him. I considered it my job to make sure Jake did not get too cocky.

"Not really anything to complain about. Except for the Rez cop Maples, he really has been after us. He is afraid of our so called gang, and has been watching us like a hawk." Jake shrugged, not much really bothered him. But then that was his personality, he was a pretty easy going guy.

Maples, as we called him, was the head Rez cop; he had a pretty easy job, since nothing much happened on the Rez. Occasionally he had to break up a fight when people had too much to drink but other than that his main occupation was catching speeders. He was generally not well liked, I think he was bored and so he would go out of his way to look for trouble where there was none to be found. I remember my father complaining that the man had forgotten what it was like to be a member of the tribe.

Maples had married an outsider and ever since then had been moving further and further away from the old ways. The tribe was not close minded, they welcomed people of all colors and backgrounds - well eventually, sometimes it would take a while for them to warm up to a person. The problem seemed to be that his wife, Cindy, refused to be part of this tribe and went out of her way to make sure she would have nothing to do with us. She was a devout christian and still loudly proclaimed that she would not be going to church with these "pagans" as she called us. She made sure her precious little children did not spend too much time around us tainted Rez kids, instead she would drive them to play with the kids in Forks. Up until high school she had actually gone so far as to homeschool her children in order to protect them from us - I can only image how horrified she would be if she found out about the wolves.

Most people of the tribe had given up on her, after twenty some years of living here she still had not bothered to learn anything about the Quieluete tribe. Her daughter Jill was the same age as Seth, she was the one he had dated for a while. I guess she was doing the whole rebel against the strict parents bit, dating Seth would have really irked Jill's mom.

"Maples is always out looking for trouble, I don't know why he does not give up and move away from here." I rolled my eyes at Jake. "Just stay away from him and don't get caught."

"I don't think anyone else would put up with his crap. But he needs to work a few more years and then he can retire. Hopefully somewhere far, far away." Jake spoke as if he was really looking forward to that part. "Jared is actually thinking of going to take some classes at one of the local colleges. It would be good to have a member of the pack on the police force."

That was a great idea, if strange things happened in the region - like bodies turning up - it would be beneficial for one of us to actually know what was going on. There was nothing worse than trying to do our jobs while avoiding the police.

Due to the fact that they were having this big bonfire I was thinking of cutting out early. I had already spoken with everyone I wanted to and it was easy to use the excuse of the drive back to Seattle. Phil convinced me to stay a little longer, I promised to try so long as I did not have to be nice anymore. As the afternoon started to change into evening more people showed up. The small bluff started to get a little more crowded as people started gathering around the large pile of wood, it was still too early to light but it did not stop people from claiming the 'good' spots.

I was sitting on a log watching the boys pile even more wood on an already huge pile, Phil had abandoned me to find something to drink. I noticed Rachel and Kim approaching me slowly. It was Rachel that was bold enough to talk to me. "So rumor has it that you imprinted. Kind of strange."

"It does not bother me that much, considering it was my choice." It would have been too much effort to be rude right now, and Rachel had always been nice to me.

"So you chose to imprint?" Rachel seemed very impressed by this.

"Something like that." She could not understand, my love for Phil went beyond the imprint. But it seemed to make everything all right, even my mother seemed to be ok now that she knew I had imprinted. I might not be able to make my own decisions but if fate made them for me it was all right - to say that pissed me off was an understatement.

"So we were wondering how he is in bed?" This was from Kim, shy quiet little Kim.

It took me a moment to recover from my shock. I started laughing, for all the supernatural mumbo jumbo we were still all girls. Something truly mischievous flared up inside me. I tried to pull my face together into a more serious look. "Well let us just put it this way, there is something to be said for an older man with experience." I leaned a little closer for a better effect. "I don't have to fake my orgasms...anymore."

Kim giggled while Rachel looked over at where Sam and Emily were sitting together. I followed her line of sight, it seemed that Sam had been eavesdropping on my conversation. I watched as his lips tightened around his teeth and a blush appeared on his cheeks.

I looked past him to find Phil, he was in deep conversation with Jake's father. From the sounds of it they were discussing politics, maybe I should warn Phil to be careful - Billy Black took his politics very seriously. Was it wrong for me to be wondering when we could go back home?

"So care to share some details?" Rachel interrupted my woolgathering.

"It might be too much for your virgin ears." We laughed together at the thought. Somehow I highly doubted that Rachel was still a virgin but it was good to tease her. "But let me just say that as straight laced as Phil may appear there are some interesting surprises underneath those clothes." Yes that little bit of silver in his nipple was very much a surprise and I was more than tempted to go over there and bite it through the fabric of his shirt.

"He is that good?" Rachel asked with a laugh.

"Can't you tell? She is off in fantasy land right now," Kim added finally making me realize this was not the best place to think about those things.

We moved onto different topics, she asked my about college. I asked her what she was doing now that she had come back.

"Odd jobs while we wait for some things to settle down. Paul kind of freaked out when those leeches caught you, he does not want me going very far from the Rez." She was explaining why she had not gotten a permanent job somewhere like Forks.

"Jared did the same thing, he wants me to stay as close to him as possible." Kim added.

"It was a close call, especially last time. Pretty much had it not been for Phil and Carlisle I would not have made it." It had been a very close call, no one outside of the family would ever know how close.

"Some would probably think it is heresy but I don't think the Cullens are as bad as some of the wolves make them out to be." Kim told us quietly.

"Carlisle strangely is a very, very nice man. I don't think I have met humans as nice as Carlisle, well maybe Seth but no one is nicer than Seth. Some of the other members of the family are not so nice, but they usually try to do the right thing with a lot of prodding from Carlisle." I was not longer pissed off at the Cullens, so I had been able to step back enough to appreciate at least some of them.

"The boys seem pretty impressed that you took down two of the leeches." Rachel seemed very interested in my awesome vampire fighting skills.

"It was not that impressive, I managed to use a trick I had learned and got seriously lucky." I had watched Phil and Myles train together on the island, it had really scared me the first time I had seen them fight - it had looked like they intended to kill each other. At some points had Stef not restrained me I would have jumped in between the two of them to try to protect Phil. It had really brought home the fact that I really knew nothing about fighting, the snippets of training we had gotten here and there were practically useless, especially since we had been teaching each other. The blind leading the blind.

"So where did you learn the trick?" Jared asked as he joined us.

I did not mind Jared all that much, he seemed a nice enough guy. It would have been better had he not been Sam's right hand man. "I learned it form a friend of Phil's." I shrugged, technically Tiffany was his cousin but I was not going to go into all that.

"How does this guy know so much?" Jared asked, curiosity filling his voice.

"Tiffany is most certainly not a guy, I can attest to that fact." I told him with a laugh, I had seen enough of her various bits to testify to the fact that she was a girl.

"What you saw her naked or something?" Paul joined us as well.

"Yeah, she hangs out at the house all the time and I learned the hard way that she does not like to wear clothes when at home." Technically it had been about bothering Jasper enough for him to be distracted but it would be hard to explain why a human was training a vampire in fighting techniques.

"So how is it that this woman taught you to fight?" Jared continued his interrogation.

"Yeah what would a girl know about fighting?" The derision was obvious in Paul's voice. Seriously had he not heard about women's rights?

I was not the only one who noticed, Rachel reached over and popped him across the head. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She sounded kind of angry and I tried my best to keep the smile off my face.

"Um, nothing baby, just saying that girls.." Paul looked over at Jared for backup. "Help me out Jared will you?"

"Help you, no thank you." Jared told him with a laugh, "you are pretty good at digging yourself into that hole."

"So how did she teach you?" Paul asked in a desperate voice.

"We were actually having a discussion of sorts, she tried to explain how being perceived as weak could be used to your advantage. That is where I got the idea, and I just went with it." Paul and Jared seemed impressed. Too bad they would never know just how awesome fighter Tiffany actually is.

I wandered over to Phil and rescued him and my water from Billy Black. Luckily the topic moved onto beers and Billy had offered one to Phil who had very politely declined.

"If you want to drink I will be happy to drive," I told him quietly under my breath.

"Trust me Leah, that beer tastes like piss, and considering that it looked like the cooler he keeps it in has no ice. The beer would have probably tasted like warm.." I put a hand over his mouth before he could finish his explanation.

We were in the middle of preparing to cook up the hotdogs when there was a commotion. Maples, speaking of the devil, came driving up and parked in the middle of the party.

We all got up wondering what the heck had gotten into him, normally he was not this rude. But Jake had mentioned that he was acting peculiar here of late.

"Seth Clearwater where are you?" He shouted, we could see the spit flying out of his mouth. He sounded very upset, the veins in his neck were pounding, his face was flushed an unflattering red.

"Yes sir, is there something wrong?" My brother approached him with a smile.

That was when I felt Phil come up behind me. _Leah I need you to be very still and please do not overreact._ His words sounded clear and determined in my head. I felt him wrap his arm around me, it did not feel like an embrace - Phil was trying to restrain me for some reason.

"You are under arrest, put your hands on your head." Maples shouted at my brother, pulling out his gun.

For a moment everyone just stood there, was this some sort of practical joke? Why the hell would anyone arrest Seth? I looked down to see Phil pull out his cell phone, but he did not make a call like I expected him to. He kept one long arm firmly around me while pulling me against his side.

I watched in horror as Maples slammed my brother against his car and cuffed him, before shoving him towards the car door. That was when I started to struggle but Phil would not let me go, despite the fact that I got in a few good jabs before he could hold down my arms. Cursing I tried to pull away but Phil would not let me go.

"Sam and Jake control your pack, fighting now will accomplish nothing." Phil's voice was low and controlled. There was enough authority in it that surprisingly both Sam and Jake obeyed, moving in front of their gathering packs.

"Seth, ask for your lawyer and do not say anything. Say absolutely nothing." I heard Phil say quietly under his breath. Seth looked over to us, I noticed him nod almost imperceptibly. There was blood trickling down his nose, which made me try to fight off Phil's restraining hand even harder.

I don't know who started to growl first but pretty soon every wolf had joined in. Who the fuck did this retard think he was, treating my brother with such brutality? If it had not been for Phil's hands holding me I would have probably gone over and ripped the assholes head off. As it was my hands were starting to shake, I could feel Phil whispering soothing words into my ear but I was trying not to pay much attention to him. This time I wanted to get angry, that stupid man was going to go down for hurting my little brother.

"Let go of me so that I can kill that fucker." I growled while I tried to break Phil's hold on me. He must have been cheating and adding extra strength to his arm, because there is no way he should have been able to hold me.

"That would be less than helpful at this point, we need to keep a cool head." Phil whispered in my ear. "Calm down Princess, we will take care of this but you need to calm down."

The bastard Maples practically shoved my little brother into the car. I tried to make one more break for it, I shoved my elbow into Phil's ribs hoping he would let go. Phil held on tight, continuing to whisper reassurances in my ear.

Phil only let me go once the car was out of sight. That was when he used his phone to make a call. I recognized Sassy's voice, Phil did know what he was doing; Sassy was a lawyer.

"Szia, van egy probléma. Egy rendőr úgy gondolja hogy a fiad megerőszakolta a lányat." Phil did a very good impression of a growl. I did not recognize the language he was speaking.

"Are you certain? Who took him in?" I heard Sassy's reply.

"The Reservation cop." Phil spit out, only now did I notice the tension filling him.

"I will be there in half an hour." It must have been the connection, because I could have sworn that Sassy sounded angry enough to commit murder.

"What is going on Phil?" _I want to know, you have to tell me right now._ But he was not paying attention to me, instead he was briskly walking away. Everyone started talking all at once.

"We need to get to the police station." Phil told me when I caught up with him. "Come we will talk in the truck."

My mother still looked in shock, as did Charlie who was sitting next to her. Everyone was talking all at once, most of them wondering what the hell was wrong with Maples. It was nice to notice that no one thought that Seth had done anything wrong.

"That was not proper procedure. Especially since he was cooperating." Charlie mumbled under his breath.

"That was the reason I took a video of it. You may also notice Seth was not told his Miranda Rights." Phil pointed out as he ushered me down the hill towards the truck. "You need to head to the station, I called in a good lawyer."

"Are you sure the lawyer is good?" My mother asked Phil, it seemed he was the authority all of a sudden.

"Josefine will do anything and everything to make sure your son will be all right. Unfortunately she is not a defense lawyer but she is intelligent enough to deal with this. If things get more complicated there are several other attorneys I can call." Phil seemed absolutely confident.

So we all piled into Phil's truck, my mother drove with us while Charlie took his police cruiser.

"What could possibly be wrong?" My mother asked in a worried voice as Phil quickly drove after Maples' car.

Phil knew but for some reason he was not telling me. There was only one reason I could see for him to keep it from me - I would not like what he told me and I would react badly. He seemed determined to make sure I stayed calm.

* * *

A/N: All right see this was much faster than last time, but I kind of liked this chapter.

In case you are wondering the language is hungarian.

Connect2tjb: Thanks for sticking around a second time, just a few more chapters till the end.

BlacknCallwaterfan: Seriously you think you can do too many reviews? Don't you know us fanfic writers are review floozies. We love reviews almost as much as Leah likes food. Thank you so much for taking the time to write, I usually enjoy hearing about which parts people like and which they don't. Honestly I am considering writing non fanfic and appreciate the input.

Domino88: Glad you liked Phil and Leah, I like them together as well. Maybe that is why I am doing this fanfic and not any of my other ones. :D As always thanks for the review. Almost as good as a slice of cheesecake and much less fattening.

GothChiq80: I want Leah's ring too, this is probably sacrilege but I thought the movie version on Bella's engagement ring was butt ugly. It looked too ostentations and had absolutely no class, and I don't think a ring from the early 20th century would look like that but what the heck do I know.

Toshii519: You said you missed La Push, well here you go. Ask and you shall receive. :D It is always fun to have Leah pick on Sam, poor guy I have been somewhat cruel to him.

Jaime2772: Well here you go another chapter. See how much faster I do this when you don't sent me suggestions regarding stories I should read? Just kidding, this was a much smoother chapter to write. A lot less emotions and a lot more let us pick on Sam :D... always good times there. Yeah I saw that you read The Edge, it is more fluffy than this one and comes after this story finishes.

MS Animegoddess: I know the dilemma about the heels, my hubby is nine inches taller than I am so when we go out I do put on the 'husband heels'. The ones that you can only wear when your husband is around and your kids are with a babysitter. Glad you liked the chapter, Myles might look like he could rip you a new one without even breaking a sweat but he is really a sweetheart - until you mess with his family, but that pretty much goes for everyone. I see him as having more of his mom's personality while Phil is more quiet like his father.


	37. Accusations

36 - Accusations

_**Seth**_

I always loved the bonfires, my mother claimed it was because boys liked to play with fire. I am not going to lie, there was something very thrilling about a fire taller than you, but that was the only a small part of the reason that I got excited whenever we had a large bonfire.

Watching the flames twisting and turning was always absorbing, the spectrum of colors going from a brilliant white to the dark orange. The waves of heat would almost be pushing you back and away from the fire, a warning not to get too close. When everyone settled around the bonfire and the night became still all you could hear was the waves crashing and the popping sound of the logs that almost sounded like firecrackers. The smoke would rise filling our noses, the smell would be so strong that you could almost taste it.

Then there was the food, when you were a teenage boy food was pretty close to the top as far as priorities went - when you were a teenage werewolf there was nothing higher in your priority list other than food. You woke up thinking of food, you went to sleep thinking of food. I know guys were supposed to think about sex like ten times a minute, that was how I felt about food - not that I did not think about sex, but I thought about food a lot more. Jake used to harass me and tell me I only hung around Edward because he would constantly feed me, that was partially true considering the fact that I was a werewolf - but there were other reasons to be friends with Edward. When I first became part of the pack I only had the other wolves as a source of information regarding the 'leeches'. Then the newborns came and I got to interact with my first vampire, Edward. When the redheaded leech and her partner had come Edward had tried to send me away, when I rejoined the fight he had risked losing the leech that threatened Bella in order to keep me from getting hurt. That was the day I truly understood what my father had tried to teach me. "Judge a man by his actions, not by his words" - though he probably had not meant for me to apply it to a vampire. I really liked Sam but he had a dark cloud over his eyes when it came to making decisions regarding the vampires. He tried to categorize 'leeches' into one big lump, but this was wrong since you did not put humans in one group either. There were some humans that were bad and some that were good; just like there were some vampires that were bad and some, like the Cullen family that were good. It was pretty easy to tell with the vampires, just look at the color of their eyes - too bad there was nothing like that with humans.

I thought about Jill, I though she was a nice girl but that image had not lasted very long. I had to stop thinking like that, she was a nice girl, she just made mistakes like the rest of us. She was not the only one to mess up, it was foolish of me to try to have a relationship with a girl that was not my mate. How are you supposed to be with someone if you have to constantly hide who you are from them. It had bothered Jill a great deal that I would not hang out with her everyday after school. It would have been hard to explain the fact that I was patrolling the land so that if nomadic vampires came through they could not attack the tribe. I know my sister was furious with Jill but during my little trip to the woods I had pretty much decided to let it go - being a werewolf brought with it a great many complications, maybe it would be best for me to wait to find my mate before I started dating again. I had other things to occupy my time, things like school which was starting to get harder and patrolling. I had also started to hang out at the 'cabin' as the family called it, in reality it was closer to a mansion. I can't really understand how or why I began to spend my time at the cabin - well the why was that they gave me good food.

Kendrick called me his stray puppy but I knew it was just in jest because whenever I came by he fed me. It took me a while to realize that he only made vegetarian, it was impressive that a guy his size did not eat meat but the stuff he made was amazing so I was not going to complain about the fact that it contained no meat.

It had really began last March after I had disappeared to think about some things for a while, my sister Leah had called out the cavalry. It was bad enough that she had Jake, Embry, and Quil looking for me but she also go the family involved. So there I was sitting on a log pondering if I was hungry enough to go on a serious hunt and go try to catch some big game or if I would be happy enough with a couple of rabbits when this big man appeared in front of me - and I do mean appeared. One second there was nothing there just a fallen log and some saplings that were racing to claim the newly opened territory and the next second a seven foot tall man with tattoos covering his entire left arm was standing in front of me. The scowl on his face was not exactly the most reassuring thing either. I might have screamed, but just a little - I also managed to climb to the top of a tree in less than five seconds.

"Wow I did not know wolves could climb trees." That was the first comment out of his mouth, I could hear the smile in his tone. The fact that he had appeared in front of me and that he knew I was a wolf pretty much confirmed that this guy was from the family. He introduced himself as Kendrick when I finally realized what a chump I was and climbed back down off the tree. By the time I made it down to the ground he was no longer smiling, maybe I had imagined the humor in his tone; the dark toned face gave nothing away as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Your sister is worried about you." He told me shaking his head. "You should probably consider telling someone where you are going before you just take off for a few days."

I finally recognized his face when he turned away to look at something past my shoulder. I had met him before, for a brief moment, when we had first gone to the inland. It had been Kendrick that had appeared with his partner carrying that dead girl. "Did that little girl live?" I asked him remembering back to January.

"Of course, we said she would survive," his tone was almost insulted, I had forgotten some of them were freaking psychics. They must be a pain to live with especially when they acted like know-it-alls.

He had escorted me all the way home, not leaving until I had stepped into my mother's house. Another person had followed Kendrick and me home, I assumed it was his partner but they never came out from the trees to introduce themselves. I found the letter when I got to my room, three pages of a precise handwritten lecture on the topic of family responsibility. The bottom was signed: Josefine.

Less than an hour later my mother had come home - I was a little shocked of how similar my mother's lecture was to Josefine's.

A few days later I had gone over to the cabin to apologize to Kendrick and to thank him for taking the time to come and find me - that was when Kendrick made the mistake of feeding me, he had not been able to get rid of me ever since then.

There was just something about the cabin, I could not really put my finger on it. Maybe it was the simplistic elegance of the place, only the Cullen home could compare in quality to this place. My sister had complained that this place was not a home but I was going to disagree with her on that count. Someone had obviously put a great deal of effort and time into designing and decorating this house - this person's characteristics were clearly reflected in the house. Money had never impressed me but this place showed what it could do when it was tastefully spent. Most teenage boys did not spend much time thinking about furniture and color schemes, and in general I did not notice such things either, but when it came to the cabin I could not seem to help myself.

It got so bad that even Embry had caught on and used the opportunity to pick on me. I ignored him and went back to contemplating when it would be polite to go back to the cabin. While being honest I had to admit that part of the appeal of the house was this irresistible scent that filled every room - I don't know how to describe it but my best guess would have been that it smelled like home and flowers that I could not identify.

I usually only saw Kendrick at the cabin, Tiffany and Angus would show up every so often but they did not stay very long. There was one other occupant of the cabin that I never once saw, Josefine. She was some busy hotshot lawyer, constantly in her office working. It was kind of strange I had been hanging out at the cabin for over two months now yet I had not seen Josefine even once. My only real encounter with her had been when she had been carrying that sick child on our first visit to the island, but her entire face had been covered then.

So that constituted my life now, patrol, school, and begging for food at the cabin. Embry and Quil had harassed me about the food part until I showed them my memories of the food, they joined me the next afternoon. Kendrick had not seemed surprised but I guess it was kind of hard to surprise a guy that could see the future.

Embry came over and pushed me a little interrupting my thoughts and bringing me back to the present. "Hey what are you mopping around for?"

I had no choice but to laugh, "I am not mopping I am just thinking about some stuff."

"Yeah well don't hurt yourself or anything," he told me with another shove.

"Yeah real mature there, where did you hear that one, junior high?" rolling my eyes I walked towards the bonfire. The other guys had just finished piling on the last few pieces of wood. "Let's go burn some hot dogs."

There was a sudden noise, I was not paying attention to what was going on - I had more important things to do, like picking out the perfect roasting stick for my hot dog. I found one that was long enough but when I lifted it up for a closer inspection I realized it was a little too crooked for my taste.

"Seth Clearwater, where are you?" I heard someone shouting. It almost sounded like Maples, the Rez cop. He had been somewhat of a pain in the butt here lately, constantly watching the packs - he thought we were doing drugs or something.

I put a smile on my face, there was no reason to be rude. "Yes sir, is there something wrong?"

That was when things went all wrong, it almost seemed like a bad dream. Maples pulled out his gun and pointed it straight at me. "You are under arrest, put your hands on your head."

For a moment I did not move, I was in total shock. My father had taught me how to use guns and he told me no matter what you never point it at a person. What was the matter with this man, was he the one doing the drugs? I had no choice but to comply with his instructions, he was the one with the gun and he looked angry enough to use it.

He made me turn around and then slammed me against the hood of his car, I was too stunned to resist. I head Phil telling everyone to remain calm and controlled. I felt some liquid come out of my nose, I was going with the assumption it was blood but my hands were too tied up for me to check.

"Seth, ask for your lawyer and do not say anything. Say absolutely nothing." Phil's voice was just a whisper, but I heard it nonetheless. I turned towards him and gave a small nod of acknowledgment. I could see Phil holding my sister close to him, it might have looked like a hug to some but I could tell he was using his full strength to hold her to his side. I felt a moment of relief, I would not have to worry about my sister - Phil would move heaven and earth to protect her.

My sister was momentarily forgotten as Maples shoved me into the back of the car. Only my werewolf strength and balance saved me from falling in head first, you would think by now Maples would have learned how to properly put someone into the back of his car. I took a deep breath to protest and nearly threw up, the smell in the back seat was simply nasty - vampires smelled better than this, and that was saying a lot coming from a werewolf.

I tried to take some swift shallow breaths to push down the rising bile in my throat. Did they use this thing to transport corpses or something? It smelled like something had died in here, and then had decided to stay around to rot for a few days. Hopefully my werewolf immune system would keep me from picking up anything nasty from the old and worn looking vinyl seats. Maples slammed the door shut to the car, I tried to sit up a little straighter so that I could see what was going on.

The speed with which Maples was heading down the road would have been worrisome had I not been a wolf. Was he trying to get us killed? The back and forth movement as he sped to our destination was not helping with my queasy stomach.

He mumbled something under his breath and looked back at me with hate filled eyes. I could not figure out what I had done to deserve the hatred of this man. And there was no doubt in my mind that he hated me - the venomous looks he kept throwing my way were ample proof. Add that to the fact that I was pretty sure he broke my nose did not make me think he was taking me to have pizza and root beer at the station.

I racked my brain trying to come up with something that I had done to make this man hate me so much. It was somewhat disconcerting, being the target of this much hostility. Hate was not an alien emotion to me - I had been in my sister's head last year when Sam broke up with her, so I knew what it was like. But there was something different when the dark and poisonous thoughts were directed at you.

The only thing I could think of was the fact that I had dated his daughter. But this was a bit of an overreaction for something that had ended over two months ago. Unless he still thought I was dating her. For a moment I considered telling him that I had ended it with Jill a long time ago, I even started opening my mouth - but I quickly snapped it shut as he gave me another hate filled look over his shoulder.

Instead I shifted around trying to find a more comfortable position, this car was not designed for someone of my height or width. The handcuffs felt a little too tight over my wrists, my fingers were starting to tingle like the circulation had been cut off. I was going to have to live with that a little while longer, because Maples did not look like he was in the mood to stop the car to fix my handcuffs.

The trip to the police station did not take very long due to Maples' crazy driving. He did not waste anytime, instead he yanked me on the arm to make me get out of the car. It was not a pleasant experience as I tried to regain my balance, but the wolf strength and agility managed to save me from a nose dive into the dirt. A look of disappointment flooded his face, it was almost like he had wanted me to fall out of the car and hurt myself. Maples gave me another push as we walked through the low Rez Police Station door. This time I became certain that he intended me to fall, too bad for him that he was not dealing with a human.

I took a deep breath trying to calm down, I needed to think and make a plan. There had never been any reason for me to come to the police station, at least not until now. I was still confused as to why I had been brought here today. The inside of this small building that housed what constituted the police force of the Rez was not familiar to me.

The building was tiny and somewhat dark, but I could see well enough. The windows were covered with old yellowing blinds so the only source of light were the buzzing fluorescent lights overhead. The room smelled of tobacco and old coffee but it was a vast improvement over the backseat. There were three desks in the small front room but only two looked like they were being used - two of them had paperwork scattered all over them.

Bill Hudson, the assistant to Maples, was sitting behind his desk. He started to get up when Maples pushed me through the door.

"Don't worry about it, I have this punk well in hand. I am just going to go talk to him in the back room. If someone comes for him just delay them as much as possible." Maples growled out and he continued to lead and shove me towards a door that led away form the main room.

This room was even smaller with only a table and two chairs, the window was high up, tiny with thick metal bars on it. For a moment I was hit with a wave of claustrophobia. I did not get much time to look around before he pushed me down so that I was sitting in one of the chairs, my shoulders were really starting to ache being held in this awkward position. I tried to roll my right shoulder in order to relieve some of the pressure on it. If I wanted to I could have resisted all the pushing but I did not want to clue Maples into the fact that he was dealing with a wolf.

Maples immediately got into my face "did you think you would get away with it?"

The smell of his breath almost made me gag, it was probably not that bad but with the extra sensitive smell of a wolf the strong stench almost made me puke. I was willing to bet Maples' lunch consisted of something filled with onions. But that was not as important as trying to figure out what the hell he was talking about. I opened my mouth to ask him what the problem was but decided against it. Phil had told me to ask for my lawyer and then say nothing else.

"I want my lawyer," trying to push as much determination and force into my voice I looked Maples straight in the eye.

"Do you even know a lawyer boy?" the disgust in his voice was hard to miss.

It was kind of strange for a fifteen year old to have a lawyer but I knew how the family operated, I am sure Phil had made several phone calls by now - my lawyer was probably on the way. I suppressed a smile as an amusing thought moved through my mind, I might actually meet Josefine, or Sassy as everyone called her. I did not bother answering Maples' question, he did not look like he was in the mood for elaborate explanations.

My lack of an answer seemed to make him even more livid, I watched as his face turned a deeper shade of red. I worried for a moment that he would have a heart attack right here in front of me, he was not that much younger than my father and based on the size of his gut I was going to say his diet was not that great either. I quickly went through what I knew about CPR - how many times do you push on their chest? I was pretty sure it was two breaths. But I had never taken a course or anything, the stuff I knew was only from what I learned on TV.

Luckily for both of us he seemed to gather himself. An ugly smirk appeared on his face, again I wondered what I had done to earn this man's hate. "So you think you can just talk like that and escape justice?"

"Look sir I don't..." My attempts to appease him were useless, he did not let me finish my sentence.

"I was not done asking the questions!" He yelled in my face again.

Well there went that plan. "I want my lawyer and I will not say anything until she comes." Was I not supposed to plead the fourth or was it the third, maybe it was the fifth. I was pretty sure it was the fifth. It seemed that Maples was beyond reasoning, I was not going to try until I had help, preferably in the form of a lawyer. Phil had been very adamant in his instructions and it would behoove me to listen to him.

So instead we had a staring contest, I don't know how long we stood there. I was not going to back down, knowing I had done nothing wrong. Dating his daughter was not against the law so he could just kiss my ass.

He seemed to collect himself, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, "all right punk, where were you on March 9th?"

"I have no idea, that was months ago," I responded automatically. _Seth stop talking. _I gave myself a mental slap. I had already forgotten my instructions, but I was curious as to what had happened on that day.

There was an ugly gleam in his face, he had managed to make me talk despite of the fact that I had told him I would not. I bit down on my lips, determined that this time I would not say anything.

I looked away when I heard a car approaching at a very fast pace. I recognized the sound of Phil's truck as well as Charlie's police cruiser right behind him. As soon as the car stopped there were doors opening and I could hear the voices of my family. My mother, Leah and Phil were here. Phil was trying to reassure my sister and telling her to stay calm.

"Help is on the way, say nothing Seth." I heard Phil's voice clear as a bell, I doubted that anyone else other than my sister heard him. "Help is on the way if you can just hang on a few more minutes."

The front door to the building was pushed open with a great deal of force, slamming against the wall. My mother was panicking as she asked Bill Hudson where I was; I wanted to step out of the room and reassure her, but I was not sure what I could have said.

Phil continued to console my sister under his breath, telling her that everything would be all right. Looking up at Maples I was not as certain about the situation, Phil either was not using his mind reading skills or he was lying to calm my sister.

Maples looked towards the door as well, his mouth turned down in a severe frown. He was not too happy that my family had shown up this quickly; he obviously had not dealt with my mother before.

There was a scrapping sound of wood against linoleum, Bill must have started to stand up. He took his time answering my mother. "Just who would your son be again?"

"Bill Hudson don't play this game with me, I want to know where my son is right now. Or do I have to call your mother to tell her about you very poor manners?" My mother was using that tone of voice, I had learned over the years to just give in when she was using this tone.

Apparently Bill was either very brave or he had never had to face the consequences of not obeying that tone of voice. "Well ma'am, I would like to say that you can't just barge in here and start making threats like that."

"I am one of the tribal elders you incompetent buffoon, I am not making any threats. I am telling you what will happen in you do not cooperate." You could almost hear my mother grinding her teeth.

"I am sorry ma'am but I can't help you." Bill continued to be stubborn. I heard my mother mutter something unintelligible under her breath.

"I guess since you don't know anything about Seth we will wait outside." Phil's tone was cool and controlled, but that was not unusual.

Maples smirked at me. "Your mommy can't save you now little boy." He continued his rant, I was beginning to wonder if he was actually going to ask me any other questions. He finally seemed to get a hold of himself and started asking about some party during spring break.

I did not meet his eyes as I remembered what happened that day, I found his daughter sucking face with another guy. Shaking my head in answer, I tried to concentrate on what was going on outside. Phil was continuing to comfort my sister, most of what he said was nonsense but I could hear her heartbeat slow under his care. Charlie was talking to my mother complaining that Maples was not following proper procedure. Bill Hudson was humming tunelessly under his breath, shuffling through papers and drinking something out of a mug - I heard the thud when he would place it back on the desk.

Maples continued to ask his questions, raising his voice louder and louder but I was ignoring the screaming man in front of me. I concentrated harder on what was going on outside this small enclosed space.

I heard another car pull up, the engine on this one sounded perfectly in tune. I was willing to bet it was an expensive car, something the Cullens would drive. Two people got out of the car, two car doors were opened then slammed shut. Only one approached the building - I heard the click of heels on the concrete front steps as well as the door opening. There was also the sound of tiny bell with each step? "Josefine." I heard Phil greet his family member.

"Phil," a voice I did not recognize replied. I had never heard it before but I instantly liked it, it was not the squeaky voice of a teenage girl but the deeper voice of a more mature woman. Her tone of voice was neutral, but it might just be the fact that she had only uttered one word that made me think she was emotionless.

"Oh good afternoon," Sassy had come inside the building now, I was assuming she talking to Bill in that pleasant tone. It was strange that she went from emotionless to perky so quickly, maybe I had imagined the first part. "How are you sir?" she sounded calm and relaxed, not at all in a hurry.

I could hear a chair scraping. "Fine thank you, how may I help you?" Bill's voice completely opposite from when he had spoken to my mother.

"My name is Josefine Stone, and I am here to see my client. A Seth Clearwater, I would be very pleased if you would point out where he is." That settled it my lawyer had definitely arrived.

"I see." Bill's tone soured all of a sudden. "My boss is talking to him currently, so have a seat it may take a few minutes before you can see him."

"Oh good," came Josefine's cheerful reply, I was starting to doubt her sanity. What kind of a lawyer had Phil found for me? Was she not supposed to be the family's hotshot awesome lawyer, "that was amazingly fast."

"What was fast?" Bill seemed to be confused by her cheerful tone. For the first time this afternoon we agreed, was there something wrong with her?

"Finding a child advocate. It would be highly improper for your boss to be interrogating a child of fifteen all alone, would you not agree?" Her tone remained cheerful as she asked her loaded question. For a moment I bristled at the thought that I was considered a child, I had gone to a great many lengths to make sure this tribe was safe. I might be a child in age but as far as experience, most people would consider me a man.

"Oh well, he did not exactly find a child advocate." Bill sounded a little defensive, in my mind I could picture him rubbing the back of his neck while trying to avoid her eyes.

"If that is the case I will have to insist that you take me to see him. Well so long as he has asked for his lawyer, by law you have to stop questioning him and let me see him as soon as he asks for his lawyer." I heard her continue, she sounded very happy - was she on drugs or something?

Maples had finally noticed that I was no longer paying attention to him. He too looked at the door and heard the final statement Sassy had made. "Great you have found yourself a lawyer."

He pulled the door open with enough force to throw it against the wall. "What do you want?" He growled as he stepped outside the door, but then he froze mid step.

"Good afternoon, my name if Josefine Stone, I am here to see my client." Sassy introduced herself. The pleasant voice was still intact despite the fact that Maples had just yelled at her.

"Well I am not ready for you to see him yet so you can just sit your ass down and fucking wait." Maples was really being a jerk today. I could not understand what was going on, he usually was somewhat of a pain but never this rude.

"While you are here would you please allow me to see your arrest warrant. Just to make sure everything is proper." Sassy did not raise her voice in response to the cursing. The way she spoke she might as well have been asking him to pass the salt at a formal dinner.

"I am too busy right now to get you what you want, some of us are actually trying to do our fucking jobs." Maples continued to curse, I could see that Sassy's politeness was starting to get to him. But I guess everything today seemed to make him angry.

"All right, can you tell me which judge granted the arrest warrant, I can just go through his office." Sassy was being very cooperative, I thought lawyers were supposed to be vicious and go for the jugular.

"I told you I am too busy to talk to you." Maples yelled at her yet again, despite the fact that he had just spent at least a minute telling her he was too busy to speak to her.

"I would not want to waste your very _important_ time. So let me just ask one more question then. What crime is he accused of?" I noticed she had emphasized the word important, was that sarcasm I detected in her voice?

Maples did not answer but just turned around and started to walk back in the room.

"I heard congratulations were in order for your boss. Do you know when the happy event is going to occur?" Sassy was making pleasant small talk with Bill? I thought she was on my side.

I watched as Maples' face went from red to a pale white. He swung back around to face Sassy. "What did you just say?"

"Oh I would not wish to waste your time sir, I was just talking to Bill here while you were finishing your important job." She explained in an offhanded manner.

"Tell me what you meant?" Maples looked like he had completely forgotten about me, all his furry was directed towards Sassy.

"There are several little rumors floating around about your sweet innocent little daughter." Sassy giggled a little, that raised some flags for me. From the comments I had heard about Sassy, her acting like a schoolgirl was not normal. "But I guess innocent is no longer the right word to use."

Maples walked out of my range of sight, his boots stomped across the floor. "You know nothing about my daughter! So leave her out of this!"

"Now George you need to calm down..." I heard Bill trying to intervene, but it seemed not to have any effect.

"Are you not happy about the blessed event? True it is a tiny bit early..." What was she doing? She seemed to be oblivious to the fact that she was making Maples more and more angry. I could hear his breath coming in and out in large gasps.

"Would you just shut up, you stupid bitch." I twitched in my seat, maybe I should go out there and help Sassy before she got hurt. Had Kendrick not come with her? I though he was supposed to watch her back or something like that.

"Are you not happy about this? Maybe you should have explained to her how to keep her legs closed." Sassy's chipper tone was starting to grate on my nerves, there was a clapping sound almost like she was demonstrating how to close your legs. Wait what did she mean by keeping her legs closed? Oh shit was Jill pregnant, and had she told her daddy I was the father? That would certainly have explained the hate.

"You know nothing." Maples screamed. That was when I heard it, the sound of someone being hit. "What do you have to say now?" Maples asked breathing heavily.

"George!" Bill's voice was completely shocked. Maples had really hit Sassy? I got up from my chair prepared to come to Sassy's defense.

"Hudson, was that your name? I would like to press assault charges against this man." Sassy's voice was no longer chipper it was pure steel now. "My client will be coming with me as well. Judging by the level of incompetence that has been demonstrated by both you and you superior I somehow doubt there is actually an arrest warrant, but I will be more than happy to tell the judge about this little event. You arrested my client without a warrant, failed to inform his of his Miranda Rights. You also failed to stop questioning him after he asked for his lawyer. I am sure the judge will be very amused to see you completely and utterly forgo all proper procedure. Who really cares about constitutionally protected rights? It is not like they are important." So here was the hotshot bloodthirsty lawyer that I was expecting, it had all been an act in order to force Maples to break the law and hit her. Talk about willing to go the mile for your client, I hope she knew I could not afford her fees.

This was my signal that it was time to go, my hands were still handcuffed behind my back so it was a little awkward walking around the table. I stopped by the door, I could see that Bill was leaning over his desk- a look of shock was till present on his face. There was a very tall woman wearing black pants and a crisp white shirt, she was facing away from me but I was going with the assumption that she was Sassy. All I could see was a great deal of dark hair coiled in a very elaborate arrangement around the back of her head.

"George I need your badge and your gun." Bill Hudson's voice was quivering a little, he had finally realized Sassy was from the big leagues and if he was not careful she would not hesitate to take him out.

There was a thud as Maples slammed his things on top of the desk. "Fine, but this is not over by a long shot." Maples voice was filled with determination and hate. "If you think you can get a hotshot lawyer and get away with raping my little girl you are fucking stupid."

Rape? His daughter? I was completely and utterly floored. How could he think I was capable of doing that? My mind stopped working as it tried to process what I was accused of doing. How could Jill have told that lie about me, I was a freaking virgin and I was being accused of rape.

"I would also like to file assault charges on behalf of my client. The way he was taken into custody was unnecessarily violent especially since he was fully cooperating." Sassy continued almost as if Maples had not said anything.

Maples gave me one more hate filled glare before he stomped out the front door. I stood there my mind completely blank as I tried to figure out how anyone could... "rape?" my voice sounded small and quiet.

That was when Sassy turned around and I saw her face. All of my horror at the accusations were forgotten as I looked at Sassy. I felt instantly pulled into large brown eyes that were almost golden in color. I had not even realized how lost I had been, looking for my place in the world - but now I had found it, my future. My place was at the side of this woman, anywhere she was that is where I was meant to be. I would become everything and anything she needed, so long as she was happy.

"Are you all right Seth?" she asked me quietly as she came closer, the genuine concern evident in her expression. She touched her cool hand to the side nose, pulling out a handkerchief she dabbed it to my nose. I took a deep breath of contentment and breathed in my favorite scent in the world. So this was why I loved the way the cabin smelled, it was _her_ scent that I had been smelling all over the house. "Come, we have a great deal to discuss." She snaked an arm around me and pulled on the handcuffs, my hands were released almost instantly.

I followed her out the door to the rest of my family. I could hear the tinkling of little bells with every step she took.

* * *

A/N: I had to do this from Seth's point of view, but next up it will be back to Leah.

Jaime2772: I had to laugh at your review, your thoughts jump form one thing to another - I tend to do the same thing and it confuses some people when I try to have a conversation with them. Well there you go, Seth's side of the story when he first met Sassy. I was tempted to use this chapter as a prologue for Seth's story but in the end I changed my mind.

ABarbieStory: Yes Maples is very mean, and no one messes with Seth without now having Sassy rip them a new one. Don't worry I would not mess with Seth too much, he is one of my favorite characters. Sorry to hear about your job being so stressful, I can relate. I think you this chapter should have answered your question: obviously his daughter is a liar.

Connect2tjb: Yes we are wrapping this up soon, and yes that means I am getting to Sassy/Seth story next but it has been a little too hard to go from one to another. So this has a few more chapters and then I plan big date with Sassy and Seth.

BlacknCallwaterfan: Yup mommies can be scary, the best part is if you are ever a teacher and you use the mommy voice it even works on freshmen in college. (Personal experience with that one.) More pack in the next chapter where hopefully Leah's mom gets to appreciate just who her daughter is dating a little more. It was hard to let Phil constantly have to stand back and not get to kick supernatural ass where Sue can know; so his family might now have to kick some human ass to protect Seth.

Sam's reasoning for not wearing his wedding band is because of phasing, I did not mention it in the story but Leah's ring is special in that it will change size so that Leah will not hurt herself or the ring if she ever phases with it on (of course Phil would think of that.) Yeah your review was probably longer than some people's oneshots but I most certainly enjoyed reading it more than some of those stories. - Very rarely do oneshots actually do anything for me.

Ash186: Don't worry Sassy has his back (and what a cute little backside it must be) - I have to keep reminding myself that he is fifteen here and that is illegal in Washington state.

Ms Animegoddess: See Seth is going to be fine, Sassy has come in to rescue him. The sad part is the my date heels are not that tall, two inches tops, I am just that clumsy. Though I do have this really cute pair of red heeled sandals, so fun to pair that with some jeans and a cute top.


	38. Character

37 - Character

Phil had to hold me back again as Maples stormed out of the small police building. It was unfortunate that Phil was stronger than a normal human, because I really needed to get my hands around Maples's fat neck and squeeze until his head popped off. How dare he say such vile things about my little brother?

"Leah this is not the time," Phil whispered in my ear, "let Sassy handle this."

I did not have a change to reply as Sassy came out the door, her expression a lot softer than when she had first stepped into the building. Much to my relief Seth was right behind her, Phil finally released me but not before he made sure that Maples was out of sight.

"Seth are you all right?" mother asked rushing over to him and trying to give him a hug. It was kind of funny seeing the size difference between the two, my mother at barely five foot two nearly disappeared in her enormous son's embrace. I did not hesitate long as I too wrapped my arms around both of them. I noticed that Seth's nose was a little bit crooked but other than that it looked fine, even the blood that had been there was wiped away.

Out of the periphery of my eye I noticed that Charlie was hovering around us, his behavior would have been hilarious if I had not been so worried about my brother. Charlie was not cut out for emotional situations, it would be interesting to see how he would get along with me and my brother if he was going to continue his relationship with my mother - we werewolves tended to be a little more overt about how we felt. Moderation was not part of our personalities, at least not since the change.

"Fine mom, everything is great," Seth sounded exuberant and absolutely content. Not at all behaving as a guy who had just been accused of rape. I noticed that he was not looking at my mother as he was speaking, instead his eyes followed Sassy as she moved across the parking lot - the bells around her ankles tinkling a merry tune with each step. It did not take me long to recognize that look, I had seen it often enough in the past year. My little brother had just imprinted, and on Sassy of all people. It was interesting to note that even though Sassy was speaking quietly to Kendrick and Phil she still kept half an eye on Seth. I did not understand the exchange of words between the family members, but from the tone of her voice I was guessing Sassy was giving orders.

Our small family reunion did not last long, in fact Sassy gave us less than five minutes before she took action again. It looked like Phil and Kendrick were not the only ones who would be receiving orders today - Sassy was definitely all queen today.

My mother's expression was priceless as Sassy told her what to do and I finally cracked my first smile since Maples showed up at the bonfire. I don't know what made her more confused, the fact that this young woman was giving her orders or the fact that she moved to obey them even without thinking.

"Let us head back to the cabin, everyone will join us there soon and we need to make something for dinner." Phil told me as he pulled me towards the truck. I was not going to protest since I had missed out on the bonfire hotdogs my stomach was starting to grumble.

The silence in the truck finally allowed me to realize the gravity of this situation.

"How could anyone think that Seth would be capable of that?" I asked, my emotions in complete turmoil. It was only Phil and I in the truck, my mother had to stay behind with Sassy and Seth to fill out some paperwork.

Phil must have realized this was a rhetorical question because he did not bother answering, instead he kept his eyes on the road.

I don't know what came more of a shock: the accusations of rape still ringing in my ears or the fact that my little brother imprinted. I could not imagine how Seth felt, considering my own horror and I was not even the one accused of the crime. To think that anyone would consider Seth capable of committing that kind of atrocity - well that should have been a crime in itself. If you spent five minutes in my brother's company you would know with absolute certainty that he could never, ever do that. This was obviously some sort of mistake, there was some miscommunication somewhere along the lines.

When the werewolf genes kicked in our emotions tended to be a little more volatile than that of normal humans, even Sam who was the example of control had lost his temper and hurt his precious Emily. The fact that Seth never lost his temper was unnatural, not once did my little brother lose control; Seth did not want anyone to get hurt so he kept a reign on his temper. While the rest of us accepted and sometimes used our werewolf status as an excuse to do shitty things, not Seth - he cared too much about the people around him to ever let himself lose control. I had seen every other member of the pack at one time or another lose it and shift; not Seth, not my calm little brother.

I could feel my own temper rising, I knew who was behind this fiasco and that would have been that little ... for once words failed me, I could not come up with one that was bad enough to describe what Jill Maples actually was. I growled in frustration, it was lucky she was nowhere near me because I wanted nothing more than to rip her freaking little head off.

Phil reached over and touched my hand, "everything is going to be fine. It will all work out." The calm tone of my mate reminded me of another revelations.

It was amazing how far Sassy had gone to provoke Maples - but of course she would do that, he was her mate; I had only been considering the fact that Seth had imprinted on her, I had completely forgotten that Sassy's family did the binding.

"You knew," I suddenly blurted out looking at Phil.

Luckily, he did not pretend ignorance, I don't think it would have gone off too well if he had tried to get around answering the question. I was not in the mood for evasiveness. "About Seth being Sassy's mate, yes," he was staring straight at the road and would not look me in the eye, Phil knew he was in trouble - or he could just be watching the road considering how fast he was going. Yet he still continued to rub small circles on the palm of my hand - I was tempted to pull my hand out of his grasp, especially since I did not hear any remorse in his tone. He was not sorry that he had forgotten to mention this important detail. I left my hand where it was was because that small caress was making me feel better; not that I was about to admit anything out loud.

"How long have you known?" I asked casually, he might be making me feel better but that did not mean I was not pissed about the secrets he had been keeping from me. Again.

"Sassy and Kendrick were in this region before I came," he hesitated for a moment, I did not interrupt, waiting for him to finish explaining. "They have been watching over this place for nearly four years. I don't know exactly when Sassy first saw your little brother but I do know she has been vigilantly watching over him ever since."

"You know that is really creepy, Kendrick was right - she is a psycho stalker," speaking mostly to myself I looked out the window remembering a conversation a few months back. The trees were going past us at a very swift pace, Phil was seriously speeding but at this point I did not care about how fast he was going. What did bother me is that he had not told me about this.

"I mean how creepy is that, can you say pedophile? What is going to happen between Sassy and Seth now?" As much as I admired Sassy there was something a little weird about her being Seth's mate. Plus she was like freaking royalty, I mean she lived in a castle and all that jazz. Being an American I was not usually impressed with things such as titles and crap like that, but that castle was huge and older than the United States.

"That is something they will have to work out for themselves." Phil's tone was neutral. I would have agreed with him in another situation, but this was my fifteen year old little brother we were talking about, there was no way to stay impartial at this point.

I opened my mouth to protest, but Phil spoke before I could say anything, "if you think about it Sassy is bound to your brother."

"Yeah but he is fifteen." That was the problem, it was not that she was bad or anything - in fact she was an incredible woman but she was like two-thousand years older than him.

"Just because we are bound does not mean we have to have a romantic relationship with our mates." He continued in his quiet voice, there were times when it was next to impossible to have a conversation with Phil. Unless he was willing to disclose his thought process I had a hard time trying to discern what was going on in his head. At times when he would stop for a minute to consider his answers I wished to be a mind reader like Edward so that I would know what memories he was reliving - with two-thousand years of experience there were a lot of memories for him to choose from. It was at times like this that the age difference between us really became apparent.

"Well I just thought that is what binding was, you know - love them instantly." I told him, not understanding what he meant. He was making me confused, was this binding not like the imprinting thing?

Phil immediately pointed out Claire and Quil, there was nothing romantic about their relationship. There was more than one way to love a person.

"This is different from Claire and Quil, my brother is a teenager and he is capable of having a relationship." Phil was being really obtuse today.

"You forget one important factor," he paused for a second, and seemed to be struggling with how to formulate his explanation. "We are immortal, we do not need to seize the day. We can sit back and patiently wait for our mates to mature to a point where we can have a relationship. No I do not think that it would be appropriate for Sassy and Seth to start dating, but I do think they can have a meaningful relationship. I could be wrong but I think our friendship last fall was worth something."

"So what, they are going to be like best buds or something?" I could hear the sarcasm dripping from my voice.

"For the sake of our mates we are willing to take all the time they might need, Sassy is mature enough to set some rules that will not be crossed." He must have noticed the skeptical look I gave him because he turned to me and gave me a small smile. "Phila is not dating her mate, despite the fact that he is old enough."

"Wait what do you mean Phila, has she found her mate?" Why had I not heard anything about this? _This__family__and__their__damn__secrets._

Phil shrugged, "it would be inappropriate for her to get involved with him so she simply makes sure he is safe and taken care of." Phil gave a small laugh, "I am pretty sure some days he hates her guts, she has very high expectations and so she tends to push him a little harder than the others."

Something clicked in my mind, a boy in shorts in the middle of March while it was pouring down rain - he was not cold because he was from Alaska. I remember him complaining about gaining an extra mother in Dr. Smith - I knew her as Phila. "Wait a minute, is he one of her students?"

"Yes, but I would not worry about that. She goes out of her way to make sure nothing inappropriate can happen." Phil was looking at me in surprise, that did not happen often - surprising the psychic.

"He thinks of her as his second mother." I recalled the conversation I had a few months ago. "Is that what is going to happen with Seth and Sassy?"

"It is a possibility, but like I said they will have to work things out for themselves. It is a little different since Seth has imprinted." That fact would change things, Seth would not be able to live his life as if nothing had happened. I pondered the situation, what did I want to occur between my brother and Sassy? I laughed a little bit at my own arrogance. Did it really matter what I wanted? My little brother would have to make his own decisions, and threatening Sassy would be useless considering she could kick my ass without even trying. Just a few hours ago I was worried that the girl my brother imprinted on would not love him enough, now I was afraid the opposite would happen.

I might not have done a very good job at taking care of my little brother but now that things were finally settling down in my life I had begun to try to actually be a sister. I was getting a little upset at the fact that he now had someone else to take care of him. The family took very good care of their mates, making sure that they had everything they needed. I would never have to worry about my little brother being fucked over by some idiot little girl that did not understand what an amazing person he was.

I was sitting there with relief coursing through me at the thought that Seth would not have to go through the heartache that I had lived through when something occurred to me. Phil had told me that Sassy had been around here for the past four years or so.

"Why did she not do anything when the newborns attacked? It would have been nice to have the back up." There might have been a new bitter edge to my voice, if she claimed to care about my little brother so much why had she not protected him? He had to face off against a newborn vampire all by himself since Edward was too busy taking out Victoria and protecting Bella.

"You don't think we were in the woods that day?" Phil voice was almost too quiet for my wolf ears to hear.

I looked back at him, there was an unreadable expression on his face, but that was not unusual for Phil since he liked to keep his secrets very close. "Were you there that day?"

"Yes of course, Sassy and Kendrick had called several of us in as backup." Phil gave a small shrug, almost like I should have known this. "She wanted to make sure nothing bad would happen, but at the same time we knew this would be an opportunity for the wolves and vampires to bond." He made it sound like we had sat around the bonfire singing kumbaja together - but I guess there had been a big pile of burning vampire corpses. I smiled a little at the thought, it had been a really big stinky bonfire; my only regret is that Jake got hurt because of my stupidity.

My smile disappeared suddenly. What the fuck had Phil meant when he said he was here in May? Phil had met me in May but he did not come and try to pull me out of my depression until September. I pulled my hand away from him, last summer had been the worst time of my entire life and he had just walked away back to LA to do boob-jobs?

"How could you?" My angry growl finally made Phil turn towards me, my hands started shaking and the vibrations quickly spread through the rest of my body. I had not been this angry in a long time.

"How could I what?" he looked genuinely surprised. This time I did not find anything humorous about surprising the psychic.

"If you have to ask..." I was too furious to speak, all those months I could have been doing something productive instead of spreading the bile and hate around. I hurt everyone around me and for what reason? He had decided not to meet with me? _Maybe__you__were__not__ready__to__meet__him__or__maybe__you__needed__to__get__your__own__ass__out__of__that__dark__place._I quickly ignored the thought and pushed that reasonable voice to the back of my head.

I fumed silently, staring at the trees moving past us as Phil drove down the road. I was not really seeing the trees, instead I was going through the dark memories of last summer. The pack mind was pure torture, they knew all of my thoughts and there was no way to avoid the boys knowing how I truly felt about Sam. Then there was Sam himself, I don't think there was anything lower than your ex-boyfriend knowing how pathetically you loved him despite the fact that it was all over. The entire pack was amused by Sam's constant attempts to make me feel better but at the same time wishing that he could be sharing the pack mind with his wonderful Emily instead of me.

There was no way to keep my thoughts private as we spent a great deal of time on patrols during those dark months, and there was no way to hide how I felt about Sam. I might have been able to shout and curse at him when I was a human, but once we switched to wolf form everyone knew what my true feelings were. The combination of longing and lust that I felt towards Sam was not something I could hide from them. They pity that the other boys felt for me was apparent from their thoughts, but I made sure it would change into one of loathing - I absolutely hated being pitied. Why can't she just get over him? That had been foremost in their thoughts, I had wished and prayed to any god that would be willing to listen for that to happen. I wanted to find someone to imprint on, I had not cared who it was at that point. Instead of that escape I had to witness Sam's love for his Emily, it really sucked being inside of his head. I could genuinely tell that he loved her, and that was what made it so mad, he had never loved me like that. Why could he have not imprinted on me? I was from a better bloodline than Emily.

Last summer had been the ultimate low in my twenty years of life, and no matter how long I live there does not seem to be a situation where it could get any worse. I reached a point where I could not stand to be around me, and I made sure that everyone suffered for that. I destroyed my relationship with my mother, saying hurtful words that could never be undone right after she had just lost her husband of over twenty years. I had been friends with Kim since I could remember, but I somehow managed to fuck that up in less than a month. I don't know if Phil would have been able to stop all that, but I would have thought I was worth it - he should have tried to do something for me. The time I needed his support the most he had gone back to his life, leaving me to suffer another four months before he decided to try to do something to help me. I opened my mouth to ask him to stop the truck so that I could just walk the rest of the way, but I noticed that he was slowing down to turn onto the road that led to the cabin. I would be able to escape soon without having to talk to him, at this point I would probably only be able to shout. It might have seemed unfair to be angry at him, it was not his job to "save" me but at this point in my anger I was not able to think like that. It was my own strength that got me out of that dark pit but he had helped me find the way. Would it have been too much to ask that he help me a little earlier than he had planned? I mean why the fuck did he wait all the way till September, allowing me to fall further into that pit. I opened the door of the truck even before it had come to a complete stop, the seat belt stopped my escape and this made me even more angry.

I tried pushing the freaking button but it would not let go of me, I felt Phil brush my hands away and release me. _Oh,__now__he__is__willing__to__help__me,__the__jerk._ I slammed the door shut as I headed for the cabin. There was no way to escape this house, I did not have a car to drive to Seattle and even if I did that was not possible - Seth would be coming by in a little bit so that we could figure out what to do about these accusations. I had allowed my own problems to consume me for long enough, somehow I would get through this evening for the sake of my little brother. So I sat down on a barstool in the kitchen and fumed, not willing to make eye contact with Phil.

"Leah, what is the matter?" Phil had asked when he followed me in, but I had given him a look that I hoped showed him how much I hated him at this point. In the back of my mind I was aware of the fact that my behavior was bitchy at best and Phil did not really deserve it but the months of secrecy had finally caught up with me. Phil would have to learn to tell me things. Fortunately for him there was no more talking, right now he was a breath away from having his head ripped off.

I watched in silence as Phil threw together the quickest dinner I had ever seen, next to me he placed a large bag of apples to peel and chop up into cubes - nothing else was said. My werewolf healing abilities came in handy as I kept cutting myself while peeling, it did not help that my hands were shaking with restrained furry. I was supposed to be chopping up the entire five pound of apples - I considered a mutiny. Phil still had not talked to me beyond giving me the instructions to cut up the apples, I always knew he was an intelligent man. Except for the whole fucking keeping secrets.

"Why don't you use the potato peeler?" Phil asked as he loaded up a large pot with a great deal of rice and water, he had finally turned to look at me.

"I could not find it." The words came out through gritted teeth, my voice sounded a little hoarse. The truth was that I did not even bother looking for one, from the looks of things someone had moved stuff around since I had been here last.

Phil gave me a concerned look, oh that is right now the fucker wants to help me out.

I shrugged, not wanting to say anything else, afraid that if I did not bite my lip all this anger would pour out and there would be no way to stop. I had to keep it together until we were done dealing with Seth's problem, someone would get a little extra iron with their apples and they would just have to get over it. Phil still had not offered any explanation as to why he had left me to suffer alone for a whole four months. Maybe he did not have a good reason, and that was my greatest fear - he did not think me worth it.

Phil shook his head as he pulled open a drawer and tossed me not one but two peelers. I resisted the urge to growl as I dropped my knife in the bowl before gracefully catching the projectiles headed for my head. If I did not know better I would guess that Phil was pissed off at me, but there was no reason for that happening - I was not the one who abandoned the person I claimed was my mate.

He continued to pull stuff out of the fridge, it seemed he took out every vegetable as well as a couple of white plastic boxes of stuff.

"What is that?" I finally got my voice under control. Small talk, I would stick to the present and ask only insignificant questions. Not talking was allowing me to think too much, and I could tell I was heading for a major tantrum - there would be lots of shouting, crying, and throwing things involved. I would rather put it off until later when we could be alone.

"Tofu," He told me as he cut the package open and dumped out the fluid. The sponge looking thing did not smell very appetizing.

I considered telling him that was one thing I was not going to eat but that would have sounded too much like a joke. I was not in a joking mood, and from the looks of things neither was Phil. "What does it taste like?" I asked in response to his one word answer.

"Tofu does not really taste like anything, so I can add spices to make it taste like anything I want." It was like he was reading a lecture. He was starting to piss me off - all right he had already pissed me off but what the fuck was his problem? I was not going to let him make me feel bad about giving him the silent treatment in the truck, I was in the right here. For once he would have to admit that he was totally wrong - I pulled my righteous anger around me like a protective cloak and went back to peeling and chopping apples.

I glared at his back as he prepared dinner, it was actually starting to smell good - my stomach was going to betray me. He fried up the tofu first before taking it out and adding the vegetables next.

"You had better not tell Seth what that stuff is or you will never get him to eat it. Why don't you have meat?" I tried once again to talk to him normally, this was going to by my last attempt at conversation especially since he was being an asshole. I would not have bothered but I did not want to be left alone with my dark thoughts.

"Sassy is a vegetarian," he pointed out quietly. That should have been obvious to me, I remember both meals with her had lacked any type of meat. Phil did not say anything else, but continued to stir the veggies.

All right so he wanted to give me the silent treatment, two could play that game. I went back to the apples, I was not going to say anything else.

Phil finished with his stir fry and the rice, and left them covered on the stove to stay warm. He had gathered up the apples I had peeled to make some sort of dessert he had put in the oven. "I have a phone call to make," he told me before he disappeared upstairs.

Why did he have to be so mean? I could feel the tears starting to form in my eyes, but I was not going to let them fall. Instead I stormed to the cabinets and started to gather plates and utensils to set the table. I concentrated on making sure all the plates had an accompanying fork, napkin and glass. Then I filled all the glasses with water, upstairs Phil made his phone call - he was checking in on his patients, Carlisle had been watching over them while Phil had taken the weekend off.

Kendrick and Sassy were the first one to arrive. Sassy stormed into the house, she looked absolutely furious as she stomped into the study. I never knew you could slam sliding doors but Sassy achieved it - she was a very impressive woman, especially since she also managed to stomp her feet while wearing heels. For a moment her display of temper managed to distract me from my own problems, but soon I went back to contemplating Phil's desertion both today and a year ago.

Kendrick greeted me with a smile as he headed to the kitchen and lifted the lids to see what Phil had made. "Dinner smells good."

I was still staring at the spot where Sassy had disappeared, did everyone in the family throw such tantrums?_You__should__fit__in__just__fine,__Leah._

Kendrick noticed the direction of my attention. "Don't worry about her, she is just pissed because she knows it would be wrong to hunt down and murder a fifteen year old girl."

"I could help her get rid of the body," it was a plan that I had considered earlier. I thought I heard a chuckle coming from the study - I don't know the extent of their abilities but I wondered if Sassy had heard my offer. That was another place that I could focus my anger, Jill Maples, how dare that little... bitch. But my anger quickly deflated, as I thought of Phil upstairs. Seth's little girlfriend did not give a shit about him, and accused him of rape. This was nothing compared to the fact that Phil had claimed to love me and then he abandoned me in my time of greatest need. I threw an angry look at the ceiling, Phil the jerk was up there somewhere.

"Are you all right?" Kendrick was being very observant today, not to mention extremely serious. I missed his usual lighthearted banter.

"Yeah just fucking peachy, nothing like realizing your boyfriend abandoned you when you needed him the most." My voice came out like a growl.

Kendrick gave me a look like he thought I was going insane, but he quickly cleared his face of all emotions. "What makes you say that?" His tone was soft and mild, sounding just a little curious.

"He met me in May," I spit out the word, for some reason I could say it to Kendrick but not Phil, "and he did not try to help me at all until September." I could barely get the words out, I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes.

"Have you spoken to Phil about this?" Kendrick told me putting a hand across my shoulders, giving me a small squeeze. "Maybe you should tell him how you feel."

"There is no time for that, we have to deal with Seth's problems right now." I could feel a single tear leave my eyes and I quickly brushed it away with my sleeve. I was not going to cry.

"Don't worry things will work out in the end," was he referring to the fact that my little brother was accused of rape, or the fact that Phil was a total asshole to the woman he claimed to be the love of his life?

I needed to be calm for when everyone else showed up, it would be best to change the topic. "So does it not bother you to eat vegetarian all the time?" Kendrick was a big guy it would be hard to maintain that sized body without eating a great deal of meat.

"Not really I grew up this way, so I don't really know any different? There is also the misconception that people that are vegetarian eat only healthy foods. Trust me, deep fried veggies are just as bad for you as deep fried meat. Plus very rarely I do eat meat, when I get hurt really badly that is the quickest way to heal myself. I am not hard core about it or anything." He leaned against the counter and gave me a funny look. "So where is Phil?"

Phil had wrapped up his conversation with Carlisle a while back but he still had not come downstairs, I could hear his heartbeat so he had not left. I chose to ignore Kendrick's question, this was not something I wanted to talk about right now. "Seth is going to love this part."

Kendrick gave a funny look before he continued, "what part is that?"

"The whole eating vegetarian part." We had pretty much always been kind of a meat and potatoes type of family. Unless of course you considered the fried fish - I guess there was a reason that my father had a heart attack that young.

"Seth has been eating vegetarian for a couple of months," Kendrick told me in a neutral tone, I noticed that he was concentrating on my face.

"What do you mean a couple of months?" I latched onto this new piece of information, it was better than thinking about Phil.

"Ever since he decided to run away in March he has been hanging out here a couple of times a week at least, I made the mistake of feeding him the first time he came by to apologize for being an overreactive teenager." There was a small smirk on his face. Kendrick really liked my little brother, it did not bother him one bit that Seth had been hanging around here.

I could not help but laugh, seems as if I was not the only food slut in the family; and if Kendrick cooked half as well as Phil my brother would have been here daily waiting to be fed. "He never met Sassy during all that time?"

"She is very good at going unnoticed when that is her wish." Kendrick told me with a smug smile, I was willing to bet Phil was good at that too. How else had he been following me around all those months? All those months before he finally decided to meet me in September. I started to get angry again.

I heard a car heading in our direction, taking a deep breath I tried to think of the waves crashing against the cliffs, a calming technique I had picked up - anything to help me stay calm long enough to get through this meeting.

My mother, Seth, and Charlie drove up in the police cruiser. Seth just walked up and entered without knocking. "Hey guys where is Sassy?"

"Right here," was her quiet reply, I watched as both my mother and Charlie jumped at her sudden appearance. "Please come in, we have a great deal to discuss." She must have spent the few minutes in the study getting her anger under control, the cool and controlled mask was solidly back in place. It almost seemed like I had imaged the furious woman who had entered the house a few minutes ago.

"We have dinner ready, if we want to eat first then discuss strategy afterwards." Phil made his appearance as well, to my mother it would have looked like he had been standing there all this time. There was something different about him, I could not tell what it was - even though he was smiling pleasantly there was something off about his expression. It took me a moment to realize the problem, he might be smiling but it never reached his eyes. His movements seemed jerky as well, I got the impression that he was even more angry than when he had gone upstairs - in fact he looked furious underneath the mask he was presenting to my mother.

We were in the middle of eating when the doorbell rang, it sounded like the rest of the pack had decided to join us. Jake and the boys did not waste much time grabbing some food and sitting down around the table. It was a good thing Phil had made an insane amount of food, but I guess he had anticipated this.

Nothing much was said regarding Seth's problem until we were sitting around the coffee table. Seth seemed to have forgotten about the entire incident, he was too busy staring at Sassy. He was looking at her like she was the sun, the moon, and all the stars put together. It was a little sickening, I really hoped I did not look at Phil like that or I might have to do something drastic like jump off a cliff - not that I was looking at Phil that much right now, and at this point I would probably push him off the cliff. He was loading up the dishwasher with dirty dishes when my mother brought up the topic we had been avoiding for the past hour.

"Seth? Jill Maples? How could you?" I don't know what my mother was thinking - quite possibly she was not thinking at all. There was no way Seth would ever rape someone. We would not have been more shocked had my mother announced she was leaving the Rez in order to join the circus.

"Mom I did not hurt that girl," my mother's accusations were enough to cause Seth to tear his eyes away from Sassy.

"Well I know that," she redeemed herself quickly. You could hear a sigh going through the room, it would have been hard to convince anyone of Seth's innocence if his own mother did not believe him. "What I meant was how could you mess around with some girl without protection?"

Seth turned a bright red, I had not thought that it was possible for someone of our skin tone to blush that deeply, it was kind of impressive. "Mom...umm... I..." He was trying to avoid making eye contact and was having a hard time considering the room was filled with people.

"What he is trying to say without actually admitting it, is that he is still a virgin." Kendrick told us in a matter of fact. Seth managed to cough and look even more embarrassed; we all looked around the room trying ignore what that implied. Seriously I did not need to know what my brother had or had not done in regards to sex. "Therefore he could not possibly be the father of her unborn child." I wondered how Kendrick could possibly know this - oh yeah he was a mind reader. Not to mention that Seth had been hanging around here, I guess they had talked about stuff.

My mother started to look between Kendrick and Seth, back and forth. I was wondering what was wrong with her. "Oh my god, you are gay!"

That was when I could not help it, the emotional roller coaster of the day finally caught up with me - I started to laugh, there might have been a slightly hysterical note to my laughter. I could hear others laughing around me but there were tears in my eyes so I could not tell who had joined in.

"MOM! I am not gay!" I heard Seth protest, this did not help, I started laughing even harder. How had my mother not noticed how Seth was looking at Sassy?

"The point is irrelevant, what is important is the fact that someone has accused him of sexual assault." Sassy's single sentence spoken was spoken softly but there was steel behind it. The laughter stopped instantly, we all looked up at her. She had been very quiet during the entire meal, but you could see the cogs working in her head as she silently ate her meal.

"That was pretty awesome what you did with Maples, I can't believe you got him to hit you." Embry chimed in with a smile that died as soon as Sassy gave him a cool look for interrupting.

She continued as if he had not said anything. "Jill Maples is pregnant, and rather than tell the truth she has decided to go with the 'I was raped' scenario. I understand the issues she has to deal with, her extremely conservative parents that had expressly forbidden her from dating, let alone having sex. Unfortunately this means Seth will be made to be the scapegoat in this situation. This is not a speeding ticked, we are talking a serious sentence with jail time especially if her father gets his way and you get tried as an adult. The worst part is that at this point it will be her word against yours, and if we don't take care of this soon it will follow you around for the rest of your life."

"But that is not possible, everyone who knows Seth." I interrupted, you would have to be a moron to think that Seth would be capable of that.

"We are talking about a straight A student, that attends church twice a week with her parents, one who on the surface looks like has been the perfect girl. Versus Seth who hangs out with a bunch of older boys that the local police force suspect are likely doing drugs. His father died last year making his home life possibly less than stable, which might explain why he has been missing so much school, as well as the reason he has joined a gang. And speaking of school, his grades are not exactly the best."

I started to protest, she was talking about my little brother. How dare she say these things about him, I thought she was supposed to be his mate. For the first time since he came downstairs Phil looked at me, well more like shook his head slightly in my direction. I took a deep breath understanding his message - wait for her to finish. I guess it was nice to know that he would be willing to look out for my little brother, maybe I was the only one he did not care about.

"It is not about reality, it is about perceptions. This is not over yet, this afternoon was just a small skirmish. Jill Maples can still easily file charges against Seth and quite frankly if this went to trial today Seth would lose. So I need you to focus." Sassy was using the cool, calm voice. I recognized it as the queen voice from the Senate. "Even if he is later proven innocent the damage might be already done to his reputation, his record will show that he was accused of rape. For some people you don't need a conviction, a simple accusation is enough to stop you from being accepted into that school or hired for that job."

Jake, Embry and Quil seemed to instantly settle down and line up, damn she was going to have to teach me that voice.

My mother brought up the topic of paying Sassy for her work, we all laughed at her and got back onto the task at hand - how to make sure that Seth would not end up in jail for a crime he did not commit.

"We need to do something called character assassination. We will destroy the good girl image and show the world what type of a person she really is. A girl of loose morals with little to no care for the people around her; one that is willing to blame an innocent young man in order to avoid facing the consequence of her own actions. We might have to involve the rest of her family as well, the father that is too rough with his suspects as well as the cold and distant mother who cannot seem to fit into her community."

Everyone was floored with the idea, it seemed cruel and mean; especially involving the family. Surprisingly it was Charlie who spoke up first. "I don't know how legal all this sounds."

"It will all be the truth, so I don't see how that is an issue." There was enough conviction behind her tone that even Charlie backed away. But I always got the impression that Charlie backed down from most fights, he was not a coward but he did not like unnecessary conflict.

"How do you plan to do all this? It is not like people will believe us, they will all think we are just trying to save Seth from going to jail." Jake chimed in with a very reasonable objection.

"People will not believe you or me, but they will believe pictures." Sassy said in a mild tone. My mother seemed a little suspicious, especially since Sassy just happened to have pictures of Jill dressed like a complete slut making out with random guys. I was not that surprised, well maybe a little regarding at Jill's appearance and behavior - I had believed her to be a bitch for cheating on my brother but I had not realized what she had done to my brother was not abnormal behavior for her. Sassy's possession of such damning pictures was not shocking, she was very dedicated to keeping an eye on her mate. Some might call it stalking, but she had the best intentions; the family took care of their is what made it so much harder to imagine how Phil could have just stood by. _Maybe__you__should__just__talk__to__him__like__Kendrick__suggested.__Maybe__there__is__a__very__good__explanation._ Damn I hated that reasonable voice at the back of my head, especially when my temper cooled enough to actually listen to it. While everyone around me discussed how they would distribute the photos I started to worry about the new place my thoughts were going. Phil had been nothing but supportive of me, that small nagging voice started to be a lot more persistent in its observations. That pesky voice pointed out that I had been judge and jury before even asking Phil for his side of the story. _What__if__you__were__wrong__Leah?__Did__you__just__fuck__up__again?_

I looked over at the man who had become such an important part of my life in the past couple of months, the promise ring felt heavy on my hand as I considered how quickly I had jumped to conclusions regarding what happened last Spring. Phil was facing partially away from me so I could only see his profile, but having spent a great deal of time trying to decipher his thoughts I had become pretty adept at noticing anomalies in his expression. There were small differences from this morning, a double set of lines bracketed his mouth indicating a high level of tension. Though he might appear relaxed in that chair I could see that every once of his muscles were clenched as he listened to his cousin talk. I was willing to be this stress was not simply due to my brother being in trouble.

My mind went through the possibilities of Phil not meeting me until September, it was not impossible for him to have missed me. A lot happened in May, there was a whole army of newborn vampires that he would have had to avoid. Things with exceptionally keen senses - it was a possibility that he was so busy avoiding them that he did not encounter the only female werewolf of the tribe.

My anger quickly diminished as a small knot began to form in my throat, the probability that Phil did not encounter me until September was high. Had I let my former relationship color the way I saw my current one? Oh shit, there I went again in typical Leah style, open mouth and insert foot - though at this point I had probably managed to insert my entire leg. As much as I hated this was not the time to concentrate on Phil, I had to finish seeing what we were doing for Seth.

Sassy had another strategy just in case, she was counting on the fact that Jill would say on record that she only had sex with Seth. That way when we got the DNA test to prove otherwise she could be accused of perjury. We spent the rest of the night eating the apple-cranberry cobbler that Phil had made with my help and ironing out the strategies. At this point we would take orders from Sassy, because she wanted to make sure we got our stories straight - aka no talking to anyone without calling her first.

It was past eleven when Phil and I got back to Seattle, we had jumped home not long after my mother and Charlie had taken Seth home. The opportunity to speak privately with my little brother never occurred, it would have been nice to be able to discuss his imprinting on Sassy, but my mother was always around so we both had to watch our words.

"I wish we were back on the island, things seemed so much simpler back there," I cringed, that had come out sounding like a whine.

"Don't worry Leah, if all else fails we will take Seth away from here." I looked at him in shock even before the words were fully out. "It is a last resort, but we both know it would not be a good thing for someone like him to go to jail."

"All I want right now is a long hot shower and a bed. At this point I don't really care whose bed it is so long as I am allowed to sleep." The slow pace of the island had made me forget how exhausting people could be; once again I wished that we could go back there. I was too drained to deal with the issue of what happened last Spring with Phil, so I left him examining the contents of the refrigerator.

"One thing Leah before you go. I was there in May, I knew about your situation, but I did not actually meet you until late September." His tone was cool, but I could hear the hurt underneath. "Do you think I am capable of walking away when you are in pain?"

His calm words made me stop in my tracks. I had suspected as much but it was a relief to hear the words come out of Phil's mouth. I thought back to last Fall, all the things that Phil had done for me - the patience he had shown while I tried to pull my head out of my ass. "Oh my god I am sorry, I am such a bitch." When I actually considered it, and not just reacted to the memories I became ashamed. No I did not think him capable of abandoning me, Phil had proven over and over again that there was nothing he would not do so long as I was happy. I rushed over to him and threw my arms around him.

It took him a while to answer me, and despite the fact that I was nestled next to his heart it started to feel like were were a mile apart. His reply did not help me get over the feeling of distance. "It is fine, nothing to apologize about. You went through a great deal last summer, it will take you a while to get past those memories." He spoke the words precisely, enunciating each word; there was little emotion in his voice. The distance between us increased, the usual feeling of comfort and peace that went along with embracing Phil was suddenly gone.

In my mind I knew that Phil would never leave me and that he would go to any lengths to protect me - but I had not forgotten what it was like last summer, I hope that he was right and this pain would not live in my memories forever. I promised myself there would be no more comparing Phil and Sam - they were completely different people, it was grossly unfair to do that to Phil and to myself. I wanted to go back to the island, things were a lot simpler back there, it was just Phil and me - the memories of last summer had been mostly forgotten there.

Phil pulled away from the embrace, "I need to head up to the hospital for a few hours, there is a patient I need to check on." His tone sounded practical but there was something missing.

He walked away from me and headed upstairs, he came down a few minutes later dressed in fresh clothes, his hair neatly combed. The distance I felt was not just due to my imagination, it was a large chasm right now. I did not know how to cross it, apparently an apology was not enough. "Look Phil..."

"Leah, despite the fact that we have lived for millennia, we still get our feeling hurt sometimes. I need to leave before saying something I will regret. Goodnight," he replied. I was afraid he was still pissed off at me, and I could not blame him. All I had done was assume he would be willing to let me suffer through the worst summer of my life alone - so pretty much I had told him he was a total asshole.

I heaved a quiet sigh, going upstairs but deciding to forgo the shower. Instead I threw myself on my bed and cried. There were many reasons for me to do so, I had acted like a total bitch hurting the man that I loved, but the worst part of it was that I knew for a fact I would do this again - it was in my nature to be impulsive. No matter how many promises I made to myself not to compare Phil to Sam I knew it would be something I would do over and over again.

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A/N: Sorry about my tardiness, that pesky real life popped back up again and now I have to contend with deadlines.

Connect2jtb: I don't think I changed much in the last chapter, just cleaned up some of the grammatical errors. Maybe a little better description of the area, the current chapter was altered a great deal which is why it took me so long.

Toshii519: Glad you like everyone else thought that Seth is not capable of rape. My baby boo would never do anything like that. Too bad he is still jailbait.

Jaime22772: Yay 500 Reviews that is so awesome, I don't have cookies for you being the 500th reviewer but I do have some awesome oatmeal pecan pie. This story will not have a section from Phil's point of view but I might do one at some point, I was playing with the idea of doing the diner scene from his point of view.

ASH186: Yes Seth imprinted and don't let me confess how hard it was to give baby boo away, but Sassy will take care of him. Yes since Sassy is queen at one point Seth be able to help her rule, but he has to grow a great deal more before he can do that.

BlacknCallwaterFan: I don't know why Jill did what she did other than she was desperate and maybe Seth seemed like the easiest target of her choices. Maybe she was afraid the other boys would have called her out on it, but Seth was too kind to call her out on the lie. She probably did not consider how her father would react - she is 15 and selfish. By the way "for the love of everything tasty and fattening in the world" - seriously I will have to use that line. I am now going to have to engineer a situation where I use it.

Twilighter: Jailbait story will have to wait a bit more, I am too busy right now. Plus my mind gets confused if I switch around through too many writing projects. I don't know if I said this before but Kendrick has a story it is just not in SM's universe.

Lamia-amo: Sassy does already have a mate, it was Seth all along. Kendrick did not want to say who it was because Leah shares her thoughts with the pack and it was supposed to remain a secret.


	39. Forgiveness

Disclaimer: I am just reminding you of the M rated status of this story.

For the K rated version of this, Leah takes a bath.

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38 - Forgiveness

Waking up to a cloudless blue sky would make most people happy but today it only made me angry. Scowling at the bright rays of sunshine as I rolled away from the large windows in my bedroom my only consolation were the large clouds looming in the western sky, soon they would cover the brilliant sunbeams. My mind and body were working in slow motion since I had spent most of the night berating myself instead of sleeping. I felt about one hundred years old today, as I threw off the blankets and got out of the bed.

While trudging towards the bathroom it occurred to me that I had not pulled the covers over myself last night. If I inhaled deeply I could still smell the faint scent of citrus and sage - it seemed that even when he was pissed off at me Phil still tried to make sure I was taken care of. The gesture made me feel like I was an even bigger bitch, I seriously needed to stop and think things through before jumping to conclusions.

If someone had pinned me down I would not have been able to tell them what I did at work. I was on autopilot throughout the night, my fake smile pasted on my face the entire time - it was a miracle that I got the orders right. Come to think of it maybe the orders were messed up but I was too distracted to notice that my customers were upset. That night I came home to an empty house, it was somewhat of a relief not having to face Phil - at least not until I came up with a good enough apology. I headed for the bathroom to take a shower, hoping it would help get rid of the knots in my muscles. There was no way in hell I was going to get rid of the nervous knots in my stomach, at least not until Phil and I were ok again.

The large bathroom attached to my sitting room smelled of cleaning products, the water stains I had left on the bathroom mirror had been cleared. I had forgotten it was Monday which meant the cleaning crew had come through the house. Tam was right about the consequences of staying on the island too long, things get confusing when you have to get back in the human world.

Instead of starting the shower I spent a minute trying to remember everything I had to do on this planet, maybe I should write it down or better yet have the AI Aurora remember it for me. My thoughts regarding car insurance bills were interrupted by the sound of clicking heels coming up the stairs. The small tinkling bells gave away the owner of the stilettos, what the heck was Sassy doing here?

"Anyone home?" I heard her voice call from the door to my suite.

Confused I turned around to greet her, she was in her usual dark slacks and button up shirt. For a moment I wondered if she actually owned a pair of jeans but then I remembered she was wearing some the first time she found me and Jenny hiding out in that cave.

What baffled me more than her appearance was the bag she was holding up in her hand. It looked like a small gift bag, the kind with the name of the high end store emblazoned across it in gold and silver. The name was not one I recognized, but then I was not an expert on stores. Alice Cullen would have been able to tell me what it was.

"Here you go this should help," Sassy told me as soon as she saw me.

"What is it?" I asked while accepting the bag. There was some delicate tissue hiding the contents.

"It is relatively self-explanatory," Sassy told me with a small smile. "You are a smart girl I am sure you will figure it out."

"Wait a minute, is everything all right with Seth?" I was starting to panic a little. I placed my bag to a side table, prepared to defend my brother with my fists if necessary.

"Do you think if Seth was in trouble I would be bringing you gifts?" Sassy had this thing where she could make you feel foolish by simply raising one eyebrow. It was much funnier when it was directed at the boys of my pack. "Kendrick spoke of a small miscommunication between you and Phil, this is to help you bridge that gap a little."

I suddenly became suspicious of the contents of the bag, and quickly reached over to investigate its contents.

"The rose oil is to make your skin fragrant and soft, you put it in your bath water. As a friendly warning it would be best not to become too attached to the outfit. Chances are it will not last the night."

I knew what lingerie was but it became instantly obvious that this was not the stuff you picked up at the local store. Knowing the family it was the really expensive, she had probably jumped to France or somewhere equally insane to obtain the frilly pieces of lace. The top was not that bad, it was a light pink halter top babydoll that was embroidered with roses. There were matching skimpy little panties, for a second I was confused by the second pair of panties when I realized it was a garter belt. The cream colored stockings had matching roses at the top. I guess roses were the theme for this gift, my red face must have seriously clashed with all the pink.

"I can't wear this..." I tried to stammer. "I mean he has seen me naked and all.." there was no way to continue that sentence.

"I never understood this American taboo on sex," Sassy told me with a heavy sigh. I was about to protest and bring up my vast sexual experience when she stopped me with that eyebrow again. It would be amusing to see what would happen if someone pranked her and shaved off her eyebrows. "Repeat after me: I am woman, hear me roar... but I guess in you case it would be howl."

"I can't go after Phil for sex, he won't even talk to me right now," I told her with a whine.

Sassy gave me a smug smile, "if you will wear that Phil will do anything you want... talk...or other things. Have a goodnight." With a click of heels and a tinkling of bells I was left staring at the outfit.

I took the outfit and placed it on the bed, it was pretty but it would be impossible for me to wear it. Laying across the small chair I picked up the bottle of rose oil and took off the cork. The musky scent of roses permeated the air, I might not take her advice on the outfit but a bath sounded divine.

Nothing to make a girl feel better than a long hot bath and a good cry. I would find a way to explain to Phil how in the world I thought him capable of abandoning me in my time of need.

Having washed my hair this morning I found a clip to pin it to the top of my hair while the bathtub was filling up. Soon the scent of roses permeated the air, it was pleasant but no overwhelming. Sinking into the warm water made most of the tension in my muscles melt away but it did nothing for the knot in my stomach.

"Sorry for thinking you are an asshole..." I practiced out loud. No that sounded stupid, there had to be a better way to put this.

"I am a total bitch, but it is Sam's..." no I needed to let go of that part of my life if I was going to move on. Tears popped into my eyes as I though about how much that breakup was still influencing my current relationship.

Felling suddenly tired I leaned back against the tub trying to find out the perfect way to apologize. I was submerged up to my head in the warm and toasty water when the door to the bathroom opened. The rush of air that accompanied the closing of the door brought with it the scent of citrus and sage. I quickly closed my eyes, not wanting him to see my tears.

The funny little heartbeat came closer to me but I kept my eyes closed, I was not ready for him yet. I had not thought of the perfect apology yet, the one that would make him forgive me.

"Move forward a little bit," I heard Phil's rumbly voice right in my ear.

"I don't think I invited you," I tried to make it out like a complaint, but we both could hear the relief in my tone that he sounded amused and not upset. Needless to say I complied with his request.

"You are looking a little tired, I would not want you to fall asleep and drown. Your safety is my number one concern." He told me quietly as he entered the water and sat down behind me before pulling my back flush against his naked chest.

I leaned back in relief, "I am sorry, I did not mean to call you an asshole." My imperfect apology would have to do.

"I know how you feel about the events of last summer, and on a logical level I do understand why you react a certain way." He paused for a sigh, "but Leah, you immediately assume I was deliberately hurting you? The first thing that comes to your mind about me is that I would be willing to stand by while you are in pain?"

"I know, if it help I realized the truth even before you explained it to me. You have been nothing but nice to me since the moment we met. I mean you put up with my mood swings and bitchiness for months." I bowed my head in remorse, damn Sam and the stupid imprinting thing. I was trying to think of a way to explain to Phil why I had said the hurtful words without bringing up the topic of Sam.

There was a small touch on the inside of my thigh, at first it was so delicate I thought that it was accidental. But then Phil made another sweep with his fingers, from my knees almost to the junction between my thighs and back down to my knees again.

All of a sudden I was not quite so tired or worried about apologizing. I shifted a little bit trying to open up my legs to give him access to the place I really needed for him to touch - but the tease would not take the hint. I had played these games with him for a few months, I was not going to say I was the expert but I had passed the novice stage a while back. I shifted a little more, pretending to try to get comfortable when in reality I was trying to nestle the quickly growing erection into the crevice of my ass. I heard the small groan that escaped his mouth, and his heartbeat pick up - he had taught me really well how to build on the sexual tension. It had been a while since I had gone so long without being able to just grab Phil and drag his clothes off, and I needed my Phil fix now. Before the whole Seth fiasco I had contemplated doing just that but my mother might have said something if I did that during the bonfire. I was a pig, but I had a very very willing partner.

"Tell me Princess? Have you ever had make-up sex?" Phil murmured into my ear as his fingers continued their torture, never getting to the spot where I wanted him to touch me the most.

He started kissing his way down from behind my ear to my shoulder, his fingers on my thigh never breaking the rhythm. It took me a while to realize I was timing my breathing with his fingers - breathe in the fingers move up, breathe out when the fingers move down.

"Make-up sex?" my voice came out as a squeak as he lightly bit down on the skin on my neck. "I don't think I ever really did that?"

"Hmmmm, let me assure you it can be really fun." I twisted around to give him a smile but he did not give me the opportunity to reply. His lips touched mine delicately, once, twice before pressing more firmly against my lips. I opened my mouth and licked his lips, needing more than the superficial kiss he was giving me now. He tasted of mint and that one flavor I could not describe other than to say it was the unique to Phil. He kissed me for far too short a time before he pulled away and grabbed the bottle of shampoo sitting on the edge of the tub.

"All right it is time to give you a bath," the abrupt chance from sensual to practical confused me for a moment, "you don't just get to sit here and soak all night." I watched as he squeezed some shampoo onto his hand before putting the bottle down. The other hand was busy pulling my hair out of the messy bun at the top of my head. He slowly massaged the soap into my hair, his big hands covering my head almost completely. As much as I enjoyed sex with Phil at times being touched by him in a non-sexual way was better.

"You really have big hands," I told him with a purr as he started rubbing the shampoo in, his finger nails were lightly scrapping against my scalp. It felt so good I nearly slid all the way under the water. Phil continued his "bath" making sure each and everyone of my toes was clean before sucking each individual one into his mouth.

"All right I think my toes are as clean as they ever will be," I told him as he nibbled on my pinkie toe. He had turned me around so that we were facing each other, and had spent an inordinate amount of time making sure my legs were clean. The bastard never got to the fun parts. All of a sudden I got a good idea, he might not want to touch my fun parts yet but that did not mean I could not touch him. I tried to hide my smile as my other foot approached his crotch, sitting between his spread legs it did not take that much effort to locate my target.

I slowly slid my toes up and down his really hard dick, it was good to know this was going to lead somewhere eventually - now it was time to encourage him to move a little faster. I don't know why I did not just grab the guy and drag him to the nearest bed, couch or heck I probably could have just pushed his back and straddled him right here on in the bathtub - hmmmm, that might not be a bad plan. He was distracted enough by my rubbing foot to not notice when I pulled my other leg away.

I gave him a sexy smirk, for a second I was afraid I just looked stupid but from the dazed look in his eyes maybe it was the look I wanted to go for. Before he could change his mind I pounced at werewolf speed, there was a large splash and half the water escaped from the bathtub but I did not care. All I cared about was latching onto his mouth while I rubbed myself against him; I had missed him so much, and it had been less than forty eight hours since our fight.

"Princess...we are...not...done..." His words came out in small gasps as I kissed my way to his ears. Phil had very sensitive ears, I had pretty much hit the motherlode when I figured out that part, he was putty in my hands when I licked his ears. Phil grabbed my ass in both hands as he stood up in the bathtub, I wrapped my legs around him, not wanting to let go. I could feel his muscles contracting as he stepped out of the tub, I did not care where he was carrying me so long as we went together. I continued to lick his ears and was rewarded by rubbing his cock against my lips. I gasped as I felt cold tile against my back.

"What are you doing?" I asked as a spray of cold water hit us.

"Rinsing you off," he told me as he kissed his way down my chest, licking drops of water off the curve of my breast. I allowed my head to fall back against the cool tile as he nipped away at my side as he slowly kissed his way down my front. He paused at my belly button and swirled his tongue around the small indentation before plunging his tongue in - it should not have been that big of a deal, I mean it was just a belly button but it reminded me of how it felt when he pushed his talented tongue into other places.

After what seemed like an eternity of him molesting my belly button he finally moved lower. The water form the shower had gotten hot and was hitting me full on the chest before flowing down the front of my body, I should hot have been able to feel his hot breath on my lips but even with my eyes closed I could feel exactly when he approached my pussy. There was a tentative lick, which caused my knees to buckle, Phil seemed to anticipate this and pulled one of my legs over his shoulder as he pressed his mouth harder against me - not once did he take a break from the pattern, lick, lick, suck, nibble. I grabbed his head with my hands trying to encourage him to break the rhythm, all I needed was just a little harder or a little faster. I growled low in my throat as I realized he was not going to cooperate, he was determined to drive me insane keeping me right on the brink.

He pulled his mouth away, and I let out a gasp of protest, but that soon became a groan as he moved up my body. I could taste myself on his lips as he plunged his tongue into my mouth, he kissed me a few more minutes before he pulled away.

I let out a whimper as he pulled my legs away from his hips, "time to get dry, Princess." He rubbed me quickly in a towel before picking me up again and carrying me to my bed. I flopped back on the bed and pulled him on top of me so that we could continue the kiss.

"Come on, fuck me already." I said between kisses, I was trying to line him up so that I could take matters into my own hands.

It did not take him long to figure out what I wanted, he thrust into me almost immediately. It took me a moment to accommodate his size despite the fact that I had been more than prepared, but I did not worry about that too much. The quick pace he set pushed me over the edge almost instantly, I could not help but say his name over and over again. But he did not stop, instead he pulled both my legs around his waist, this allowed him to go even deeper. I was extra sensitive and swollen because of my recent orgasm, it did not take me too long to start feeling the build-up for my next orgasm. I hung onto Phil, he was my lifeline, he would always be there to take care of me just like I would always be there to watch his back. I was almost there again when he pulled his mouth away from me, I opened my eyes and looked up at him to ask what his problem was.

My eyes got caught in his pale green eyes, and I was unable to look away. His face looked absolutely furious, "who...loves...you?" He asked, punctuating each word with a thrust.

"You." I groaned out desperate to make him keep moving. A little faster, and deeper that is all I needed.

"Who... would ...do ...anything... for... you?" His words were low and serious, despite the fact that he continued to thrust even more slowly.

"You." I finally answered realizing he would not let me cum until I spoke.

"Who... will...always...be...by... your... side?" He had put a hand on my hips preventing me from increasing the pace.

"You... forever." I whispered not breaking eye contact. He seemed satisfied with my answer as he moved the hand that had been holding me down to the small nub between my legs, the slight friction combined with the increased pace put me over the edge. I screamed his name as I nearly passed out from the pleasure. I heard him whisper my name into my ear, I held him in my arms as he finished.

"Hey Phil, remind me to pick a fight with you more often." I told him with a sultry smile as he pulled away from me. It would have helped if I was not breathing so hard.

I heard him laugh, the full belied one that I could hear starting in the middle of his chest - and I was home again, just where I wanted to be.

It was not until the next morning that I realized something, maybe Sassy was right. Maybe next time we fight I should wear that little outfit and see how he reacts. _Or__maybe__you__could__wear__it__and__skip__the__whole__fighting__bit._Most of the time that voice in the back of my head annoyed the crap out of me, but every once in a while it had a brilliant suggestion.

* * *

A/N: I know that was a quick chapter but I have been slacking off and doing this instead of what I am supposed to do. Are there too many lemons? I know sometimes it can get a little boring of all they do is have sex.

Just a friendly warning it will probably be a while before the next update. I really need to work on other things, despite the fact that this is so much more fun.

Lette2001: Thanks for the review. Glad you like this Leah.

Jada91: Here is another update, thanks for feeding my review habit. :D

BlacknCallwaterfan: I am glad that you did not think that Phil was overreacting, but it seems he got over it. I had to put it in there that Seth was gay, because that was pretty much the only thing I could think of that would take his attention away from his mate.

Lamia-amo: There you go I updated soon :D.

Connect2tjb: Added the Sassy scene, I thought it was fun, did it add to the story?

Twilighter: Slow you roll, the only place Kendrick's story exists is in my notes and my head. I am sorry to disappoint you.

Jaime2772: Lol I know this thing about stupid job and responsibilities. Why can't I spend all my time reading and writing fanfic? No Phil did not cry when he made the phone call to Carlisle, he is much to manly to do that. Do you like how they worked out their problems? The pie was tasty of course, and so were the cupcakes. I seriously need to go on a diet but how can you when the holidays and lots of temptations are coming up? I wish I had Leah's metabolism, just for a few years while I gorge myself in cheesecake.

ABarbiestory: I guess Leah would still have some scars left over from the nasty breakup and it probably did not help that she had to share her thoughts with he ex for a while. I mean how sick would that be if you had to listen to him go on and on about how awesome his new girlfriend is. I would have had to do something drastic, like borrowed one of daddy's guns and shot him. You remember Phila's mate he is "Mr Harper"... he was in the chapter where Seth ran away from home for a while.


	40. Approval

39 - Approval

It took me over a week to acclimate myself to the normal routine in Seattle, the laid back days of the island were replaced by long hours working at the restaurant. Initially work took up most of my time since I was trying to make up for all the time I missed when I took off to study for finals. However, after a couple of weeks Mr Peters cut me back to more reasonable hours, so I only had to work three nights a week as well as once or twice for lunch depending on everyone's schedules. As much as I liked Mr and Mrs Peters it was starting to get a little boring, there was not that much variety when taking an order for fried shrimp with fries. Oh yeah and a coke to drink, though I have admit the little old couple that came in and ordered this every Wednesday afternoon was kind of cute.

I had the rest of May free of school since the summer semester would not start until mid June, so all I had to do was work at the restaurant. This gave me a great deal of free time on my own since Phil went back to his crazy work schedule at the hospital. To say things went back to normal was somewhat ludicrous, but it was as normal as possible for a relationship between two thousand year old alien experiment and a shape-shifting werewolf. It might have been strange for some but we somehow made it work, the only difference was that everything we did had a little bit of a supernatural twist. Movies at home were great so what if some stared aliens from different planets, midnight picnics were tasty and if Phil happened to jump us to the top of Machu Picchu that was one of the perks from dating one of the family members.

Then there was my favorite activity, sex. After my big fight with Phil things really heated up in the bedroom, before that "make up sex" incident he used to treat me like a precious, fragile little girl. After the fight Phil took off the baby gloves and let out his more aggressive side - not that I was complaining, I could take anything he dished out. I got brave and actually wore the babydoll that Sassy had given to me, the next day I had to call her to ask where she had obtained the outfit. I felt it would be best not to mention that she was correct in her assumption that it would not last through one night. Phil could be such a glutton at times.

Phila was gone for a couple of weeks, she had taken a few of her students to do some research down in the waters west of Mexico - something about a spotted ray, I was not that interested in what she was doing. It was something to do with Biology, that was the extent of what I needed to know. Tiffany had not been kidding when she called herself a neurologist, she had joined a group practice of local neurologists so she was gone most of the day, and Angus was doing some freelance private detective work; both of them were technically living in the house but I did not see Angus most days. I did spend a great many afternoons with Tiffany, she was still trying to train Jasper and so I usually went along for the lesson until Phil came home at night. Tiffany learned early on that it would be best to stay out of the house when both Phil and I were home - something about walking in on us while Phil had me bent over the island in the kitchen. I was too far gone at that point to be bothered by the interruption, and Phil had just continued like she was not in the room. I don't think it was the fact that she saw us having sex that bothered her, it was more along the lines of us using the place she used to eat. Unfortunately for her those counters were the perfect height, and Phil really liked bending me over them.

Since Cindy the housekeeper took care of maintaining the house I did not need to do any housework. Which was awesome because no one loved cleaning toilets, it was much better when they became magically clean every Monday and Thursday. So when I had more than a day or so off and Phil was working I would badger one of the family members into jumping me to the cabin. It was something to do to pass the time, plus I got to keep an eye on my little brother.

* * *

It was a rainy afternoon and since it was not a work day I was at the cabin listening to the rain splatter against the windows. Since school was out for the summer Seth spent all of his free time here as well; he might have to help out my mother at the shop but there was only so much that he needed to do and with werewolf strength he could get things done a lot faster. He still had to do patrols because Sam was still freaked out about how close a leech had gotten to his Emily. Luckily the large number of new wolves that popped up last December made it so that he had plenty of manpower, it was not like last summer when there were only around ten of us. I felt kind of guilty about not joining the boys on the patrols but technically I was supposed to be in Seattle and it would have been hard to explain if I ran into one of Sam's pack members. Despite the fact I was housebound when at the cabin, it did not drive me insane like I expected it to. Especially when I had so much entertainment, who knew that my little brother would turn into such a hornball.

At first I was glad to be there to make sure that nothing untoward would happen, I did not want Sassy taking advantage of my innocent little brother, but soon I realized that I was worried about the virtue of the wrong person.

Sassy, Seth and I were currently in the study, each of us doing our own thing. Sassy was at the desk filled with piles of papers, something about a merger between two companies from different nations - that was her speciality, international business law. She was not actually a defense lawyer, but had consulted another attorney in the family and was confident she could handle my brother's case. The plan to destroy Jill Maples' reputation was slowly being implemented, the wolves from both packs had started nasty rumors regarding her promiscuity. Kim and Rachel were really being a big help, especially Kim who had hosted a couple of sleepovers with the sole purpose of badmouthing Jill. According to Kim, none of the girls were surprised, Jill may have been able to fool all the adults but the other girls knew exactly what she had been up to.

I would almost have felt sorry for Jill had she not attacked my little brother, and that is what she did - formal charges of sexual assault were filed against my brother a week after Maples took him in the first time, Seth had to go down to the police station for questioning. I was not able to go but Sassy was with him the entire time, from the sounds of it she was somewhat of a bitch and would not let them ask more than was absolutely necessary. A week after the charges were filed pictures of Jill dressed like a total slut were "accidentally" left on the Rez Rec center bulletin board, things got a little worse for the little cunt; people started remembering what a nice kid Seth was and started to question the veracity of Jills claims.

Sassy and Kendrick were also working to improve Seth's image, they were not satisfied with giving his image a superficial polishing, so my little brother was having to "improve his mind". Seth was sitting in one of the large leather chairs in the study trying to get through some of Shakespeare's sonnets; Sassy would question him regarding their meaning later in the afternoon. At first I thought that Seth was just going through the motions simply to comply with Sassy's orders but it became apparent that he actually was learning - Phil had told me Seth would eventually find something to motivate him to pay attention to school, I had not realized that it would happen so quickly.

_ "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day_

_Thou__art__more__lovely__and__more__temperate._"

Seth had started to quote Shakespeare at Sassy, I was assuming it was his attempts at flirtation.

"According to some historians Shakespeare wrote that sonnet for a young man." Sassy replied without even looking up from whatever papers she was reading, a pair of black rimmed glasses perched on her nose made her look like a prim schoolteacher.

I looked up to see the hopeful smile disappear from my brother's face, he went back to reading his book. I tried to contain my laughter but it was kind of hard. My hands were shaking so I stopped working on my project, afraid I might ruin the rows of beads assembled on the table in front of me - my current project was a gift for Phil, there was nothing I could buy for him so he was going to get a home-made necklace. I was used to making intricate patterns but they all were much too feminine for someone who looked like Phil, so it was taking me longer than usual to decide on a pattern.

While pondering the merits of square versus diamond shapes I watched as Seth continued his attempts to woo Sassy. He even got up and "accidentally" bumped into her chair; but it soon became apparent that she was determined to maintain a certain distance.

As the afternoon turned into evening I amused myself by watching the two of them interact, my brother was quick to adapt - picking up new methods of flirtation. It might have been disgusting but it was obvious that it would not lead anywhere, Sassy had him completely outmatched every step of the way. There were times when I wanted to slap Seth after he blurted out some outrageous statement but Sassy seemed to take everything in stride.

* * *

"It is really amazing how patient Sassy is with Seth. And watching how Seth has changed in the past couple of weeks is somewhat shocking." I was telling Phil about my day, we were sitting on the barstools eating a late snack before we headed off to bed.

"Seth always had it in him, but now he has a goal. He wants to be good enough for Sassy." Phil told me with a smug smile.

"He already is good enough for your cousin, Seth is one of the most amazing kids around." It kind of bugged me that he did not think my brother would be good enough for Sassy.

"Seth will make a great king one day, he just needs a little more polish," his words attempted to soothe me but was quickly sidetracked as I realized what he was saying.

I was shocked, having forgotten that Sassy was a queen, my sarcastic rebuttal was forgotten. One day she would take him back to her planet, and if marriage was in the future I guess that would mean Seth would be king. Kendrick was already teaching Seth the language, though I think he only could remember the swear words.

"Have you signed up for classes yet?" Phil changed the subject as he finished off his sandwich.

"No, I have to actually go talk to my advisor first and he has been out of town." I did have an appointment next week. I wanted to sign up for classes but I needed his signature, that was the school policy and there was no way around it. It would not hurt for me to get in a few more hours, I was twenty years old and I did not even have enough credits to be considered a sophomore.

"You know I will be more than happy to support you financially if you wish to quit your job and focus more on school." He picked up our empty plates and loaded them into the dishwasher before we headed upstairs.

"Thanks, I am well aware of the fact that I can get access to your bank accounts, but I do not want to leave my boss in a lurch. I made a deal with Mr Peters, I would work for him until he can find an acceptable replacement. It should not take too long, there are plenty of college students that were willing to work long hours for minimum wage." Some might think I should hold onto my independence, but there were several reasons for me to not work. First, it would give me more time to focus on school, but more importantly it would give me extra time with the people I loved. Between Phil and my work schedules we did not always get to spend time together, I knew we had eternity together but that did not mean I did not enjoy his company. There was another reason for wanting more free time, and that was my mother. While with Phil I could look forward to centuries my mother did not have that luxury, I would get another fifty years with her at most. I used to worry about Seth for the same reason, but now that he had imprinted on Sassy he would never wish to stop phasing so that he could start aging.

"So how goes the war on Jill Maples?" Phil asked interrupting my thoughts as we brushed our teeth in my bathroom. Yeah we were like the perfect little couple brushing our teeth side by side .

"That stupid little girl is continuing to lie about how she got pregnant," I spit my toothpaste furiously into the sink. "Though Sassy is ecstatic over the fact that her formal statement said that Seth was the only man she had ever had intercourse with."

"That will make things a little easier, it will be easy to prove that Seth is not the father." Phil snorted a little before he continued, "Has the girl not heard of a paternity test?"

"Will we let it get that far? Will they not be able to tell that there is something wrong with Seth?" This was one point that I had been confused on.

"It would be a little interesting if they actually got their hands on Seth's DNA. It would be immediately apparent that there was something different about him, since you have an extra set of chromosomes," Phil was stripping out of his clothes as we got ready for bed. He did not actually sleep more than an hour or two at most but he had gotten into the habit of falling asleep with me. I really enjoyed falling asleep snuggled next to him, the smell of citrus and sage surrounding me.

As I watched Phil slowly unbutton his shirt I forgot to worry about Seth and paternity tests. Phil kept on talking, I was only half listening as he talked about Kendrick replacing Seth's sample with one from a normal human - I was too busy drooling, there was something infinitely sexy about a man slowly undressing, especially as he lifted his arms to pull his undershirt off. The rippling muscles were giving me naughty ideas, the best part of it was that there was nothing holding me back. I crossed the room and attacked the small flat nipple with the piercing; Phil quickly realized what I wanted and he enveloped me in his citrus and sage scented embrace.

* * *

I was eating breakfast a few mornings later when Angus walked in the door. "I got good news for you Princess."

He gave me a smirk and picked up an apple from the bowl in the middle of the island. I continued to eat my cereal, there was no way to get him to talk before he was ready. Angus was one of those people who wanted to get a reaction out of you, it was best not to show him anything or next time he would try to get a bigger reaction.

Ignoring him I finished my cereal and walked over to the sink to rinse it out. I tried to concentrate on what I was having to do today. I was going to meet up with Blossom for lunch, she was in town and wanted to go check out some restaurant. Translation she wanted to find good food and lots of it, sometimes it was good to have friends whose metabolism rivaled yours. Then I would be heading to work, I would stay until closing tonight.

"One of the uncles finally caught up with your buddy." Angus told me as he realized I was not going to rise to his baiting.

"Hmmm, and which one of my friends are you talking about?" I tried to make it sound like I did not care, secretly I smiled, very pleased with myself for resisting the urge to shake him until he told me what was going on.

"The vampire doctor that wanted you to have his babies." He told me with a laugh.

I sagged against the counter, relief coursing through me. "They caught him? I am safe?"

"Yup, he will no longer bother you." The tone of his voice suggested that there was something he was not telling me, it could be absolutely nothing more than him trying to make me react or it could be some deep dark secret. I decided it would be best not to pursue it, I would ask Blossom or Phil later.

"Did anyone get hurt?" As much as I hoped the leech would die, it would have been upsetting to learn that a member of the family had been hurt.

"The doctor got torn into pieces," his tone was as casual as if we were discussing the rain that was falling outside the kitchen window. "So I guess he got hurt, but other than that everyone is fine."

It was an extremely anti-climactic end to all my worries about psychopathic leeches, for a moment it was hard to believe that things would end so easily. This would mean great things for me, like the fact that I would be able to go back to the Rez without Phil demanding that I take an escort. It looked like my days of being babysat were finally over, not that Phil was going to stop worrying about me - I understood his worry a little more now, having been the one waiting at home while he went off to fight god only knows what, but that did not mean I liked the fact that he was constantly fretting.

Lunch with Blossom was fun, my three months on the island had introduced me to numerous family members, it was great to be able to ask about them. It became apparent that while the family kept their secrets from outsiders when it came to the other family members they knew everyone's business.

"Wait till this winter, we have this thing where we get everyone together for a couple of weeks." There was a twinkle in her eyes spoke of good times, "attendance is mandatory but it only happens every five years or so."

"Is it like a family reunion where you all get the matching tshirts with your last name printed on the back?" Somehow I could not see them getting together over a picnic with fried chicken and potato salad before posing for the cheesy group picture.

"Close but it is more along the lines of one huge party, with tons of food and alcohol. Traditionally one of my aunts gets drunk and hangs naked from the chandelier, while sober she swears she won't do that again but then the alcohol starts flowing and off come her clothes." She told me with a laugh. "It is hilarious to see Aunt Violet hanging naked from the ceiling especially since normally she is very conservative."

She continued to dish out the dirt on family members, some that I had met and others who I had never heard of. Apparently now I knew all about their sex lives though, "Blossom I so did not have to hear about this."

"Hey I am doing you a favor so you won't pee in you pants when you meet Uncle Matt, he can be a total SOB. Now let me tell you about our grandma Bee."

"Don't worry I have already met her and she offered to buy me a dildo if Phil did not meet my needs." I could not help but laugh at her antics, but I guess when you were that old you were allowed your quirks.

"Yeah that sound about right," Blossom agreed with my assessment.

Blossom had asked for a secluded table so we were able to speak more freely. It was a relief that I was able to be myself without having to watch what I was saying, I could see why Phil had said it was hard to have friend outside the family; the lies you were supposed to keep prevented you from ever truly relaxing with a normal human. I mentioned this observation to Blossom.

"It can be somewhat scary for some people who join our family, the part where they essentially have to leave their old life behind. Even if you stay in contact with your human friends and family those relationship becomes superficial at best."

"Hey don't guys who abuse girls do that?" There was something like that in a show they made us watch in health class in my junior year of high school.

"Yes that is actually one of the ways they control women, that and they make them feel like they are nothing." Blossom lost her usual happy look. "The black eye will heal on its own, the bones can be set and put in a cast, the larger gashes can be stitched up but giving them back a feeling of their self worth ... that takes a lot of work. Sometimes they never truly recover and end up finding another man just like the one who did it to them."

"I guess as a shrink you see a lot of that," I had forgotten about her profession until she started talking about abuse and self esteem.

"This one case I had was this woman who had been in an abusive relationship for over forty years and all she wanted was some drugs to make her not feel anymore. The worst part was that even her adult children had given up on getting her out of that situation." Blossom continued as she looked out over the water. Shaking her head as if that would help her get rid of the memory she turned back to me. "I hope you never feel like we are trying to cut you off because we are trying to control you, being part of this family does mean you have limited choices in some things. Your close friends will always have to be family members."

"There have been days when I wanted nothing more than to be a normal human being, especially when I first started shifting but that feeling has pretty much passed. I have learned to not only live with what I am but also love it."

"It can be frustrating to try to fight what you cannot change," Blossom pointed out as we ate our food.

"Thanks yoda, where the hell were you a couple of years ago? I could have used your sage advice." I stuck my tongue out and crossed my eyes in her direction but as the words came out of my mouth I realized that this was the truth. It would have been nice to have a friend like Blossom, she would have stuck around even when I was a total bitch. Plus there was no chance that she would ever take Phil away from me, since they were cousins - yeah Emily you suck as a friend.

"Speaking of wise sages, how is your mother handling the whole ring thing?" There was amusement in her tone.

"She knows about the ring, and of course Phil managed to talk circles around her so she is confused about its significance." It was hard to tell what she thought sometimes and it threw me off that I could not predict her reactions. "She was kind of upset about it until she figured out I had imprinted."

"Which pisses you off because she does not trust your judgement but somehow she trusts the whole fate crap." Blossom's face and voice was neutral as she made this observation.

"Well yeah, I mean this is not something that happened in an instant I had to go through a lot to get to this point," I grumbled for once not caring if Blossom was doing her shrink thing.

"Leah she is your mother, she wants you to get your perfect life and she realizes that in the world today there is no such thing as a guarantee."

"Sam was supposed to be that, he is in some ways still her darling." Which was completely bullshit, he was not that special. "She supported me when I first started dating Sam, but with Phil my mom has been less then enthusiastic."

"Probably because she could push around Sam but it is impossible to do that to Phil." Blossom laughed loudly at the thought.

I could not help but join her, "it is kind of funny, every time they square off somehow my mother always comes out the loser. It has happened several times and she still gets this confused look on her face once Phil gets his way, again."

"It is a reflection of how much he adores and loves you, the fact that he is willing to compromise with you. We are all very old and extremely stubborn, pushing our will on others is second nature at this point."

Our waitress came by and Blossom hit on her, I did not think she really did it deliberately, flirting seemed to be her method of interacting with people.

"You are going to give them the wrong impression, one day someone is going to take you up on your offer." I whispered after our waitress left us.

"What makes you think I would not go for it?" There was a smirk on her face that made me think she was serious. Blossom must have seen my discomfort because she leaned over the table and smiled at me, "honey when you live long enough you pretty much try anything, men, women, both at the same time. You seem to think Phil was a choirboy, if you only knew some of the stuff we did together. Though he was kind of prudish and never went for men, he is definitely a breast man."

I rolled my eyes, I knew Phil was not a virgin, and it was obvious he had a lot more experience than me. It might have bothered some girls but I knew Phil was mine now, and he would be mine forever. "I am not going to complain, I have benefited from that experience."

Blossom laughed in reply, and went back to flirting with the waitress.

* * *

It was past eleven when I finally made it back from work, despite the werewolf strength my feet and arms were killing me. Everyone had decided not to cook on this dreary evening, and they all wanted cheap seafood - I did not get anytime off during my shift, there was simply too much to do. The only thing that saved me was the huge lunch with the Blossom.

"Hi honey how was your day?" Phil asked me cheerfully from the sofa in the living room.

"Just fucking peachy, now rub my feet." I kicked off my shoes, hopefully they landed somewhere in the vicinity of the door, and flopped down on the couch next to Phil. He had a computer on his lap but I did not care as I pushed it aside.

"That bad huh?" He slowly rubbed the arch of my feet. I rumbled something in answer as I leaned back against the arm of the couch. "So you heard that the crazy scientist vampire is no longer a threat?" Phil asked me quietly as he moved away from my feet and started rubbing my calves.

"What happened? The truth please." I gave his stomach a small push with the foot he was not rubbing, threatening violence if he did not explain.

"A family member found him in Italy, we think he might have been heading to the Volturi." I could feel him shifting around, so I poked his belly once again to remind him. "So they ripped him to pieces."

"What no questioning him? A little torture would have been nice, I mean the freak killed countless number of girls trying to get them pregnant." I had hoped for a little more pain, the bastard had put a fist through my stomach.

"What a bloodthirsty little fiend you are," he chuckled distracted from rubbing my feet for a moment. "Don't worry he was not burned, someone from the family will put him to use."

I lifted my head and cracked an eye open wondering what the heck he was talking about. Phil went on to explain about how they train the younger family members to kill vampires; they capture some leeches and then allow the guardians being taught to rip them apart, once that is done they put the leech pieces back together and do it again. It was some sick sort of cat and mouse game.

"Eventually though the vampires figure out that there is nowhere they can run, and they just tend to sit there and not run or fight back. That is when they become useless to us and we burn them." I slowly pulled my feet away from Phil as he continued to explain.

"Wow you guys take this stuff seriously." There was nothing more I could say, as sick as the game sounded it would be useful for someone to learn to take down a vampire in a controlled situation. I still could remember the crunching sound Jake's bones made when that newborn wrapped his arms around him. "So since I don't need an escort anymore I was thinking about heading up to the Rez sometime next week for a more official visit."

"Your mother was kind of distracted last time, maybe now she will have the opportunity to fully address your relationship with me." I could hear the laughter in his voice.

I leaned back again and groaned, my mother and I had not had the opportunity to speak alone since she learned that I had imprinted on Phil. There was no telling what she would say, especially considering the fact that we lived together. Phil moved his hands up to rub my thighs and immediately I was distracted. It turns out that I was not only a glutton for food.

With promises to work all weekend long Mr Peters gave me the two days off to go back to the Rez. Phil somehow managed to transport my car to the cabin, I was not going to ask how; he was a little psycho, and did not want me to drive all the way from Seattle. Something about the long and winding roads being too hazardous, it would have been foolish of me to mention the whole having faced a newborn army stuff. He was determined to protect me from reckless drivers on the road.

When I called my mother to tell her I was coming I made double sure that we would not have company again, no bonfires and no dinner invitations. It would have been nice to have all that to hide behind, but I really needed to talk this out with my mother. When I had spoken to her on the phone there was always an underlying current of censure in her voice, I needed her to understand what I was doing. I considered asking Phil or even Blossom to join me as backup but that would have been silly, how could I possibly be scared of my mother?

* * *

I had gotten used to driving in the city and had to slow down a little bit as I approached the Rez, it always amazed me how little changed around here. The sky was overcast but it had not started raining yet, the weather was cool but that did not bother me anymore; the paint was peeling on the yellow house that sat on the corner next to the small grocery store. The paint had always been peeling on that house, it probably started falling off the day after it was freshly painted, nothing changed around here. It was ridiculous to expect things to alter just because I had become another person.

I stopped by the house but my mother's car was gone so I did not bother checking if she was inside, instead I headed to straight to the shop. I should have just gone straight there in the first place, that is where my mother would be around noon on a workday. It had not taken me long to drive from the cabin to the Rez but I had overslept again. Mr Peters had been giving me the late shift ever since I had come back to work after finals, so some nights it was past midnight when I got home. I had shifted my sleep schedule and had begun to wake up later and later in the mornings, that would have to change in a few weeks time as I would be starting the first summer semester with an eight o'clock class - I was not looking forward to that one.

The small shop seemed to be busy, several boats were missing from the dock - rented out I assumed. I wondered if Seth would be hanging around as well, as much as I wanted to see my brother I really hoped he was not here, I kind of wanted some alone time with my mother - it might have sounded selfish but I knew the amount of time I could spend with my mother was limited, she was not immortal like Phil or even Seth.

I walked into building from the back, my mother was busy talking to someone and did not notice my entrance. It gave me the opportunity to unobtrusively observe her, had she always had that many grey hairs? She had cut her hair short like mine last year, but it had started growing out again. Her shoulder length dark hair was streaked with far more white hairs than I remembered, there were a few extra wrinkles that had popped up around her eyes and mouth. It came somewhat of a shock to see her this way, aging, something I would never have to worry about.

My mother finally noticed my presence and introduced me to her customer, he told me his name was Paul and then proceeded to tell me his life story. His parents got divorced when he was five and he grew up away from his father but now they were trying to reconnect using fishing.

I tried to keep a neutral expression face vacillating between boredom and humor, I guess he thought they would have a big heart to heart after drowning some worms. Maybe no one had mentioned to him the fact that fisherman really got angry if you tried to talk. I don't know how he managed to transition into flirting as I helped him fill out the paperwork but he asked me what I was doing Friday night and if I would go out to dinner with him.

I could not phantom why he thought I would go out with a guy that I knew for less than an hour. He might have mistaken my attentiveness for interest, instead of me just being polite to a customer. I lifted my hand to rub my forehead before answering his question, how was I supposed to answer this without hurting his feelings? I looked back at him with still no idea how I was going to politely refuse him without pissing off a customer - his eyes were huge, I followed his line of sight to the ring on my finger. I smirked a little as I remembered Phil saying something about wanting to make sure all the guys around me knew I was already taken. Paul immediately turned a bright red, and started to head out the door.

"Have a nice time fishing with your father." I told him quietly not really answering his question, but I guess the rock on my hand had answered it for him. There was no way in hell I would ever tell Phil this, it would completely go to his head.

"You know he assumed you were engaged when you flashed that ring." My mother walked to stand next to me behind the narrow counter. I looked down at the piles of paperwork, maybe I could talk to my mom about going fully digital.

"Have you considered putting all this on a computer?" I asked her changing the topic.

"Don't mess with my system, it has been working for longer than you have been alive." My mother moved a paper from one pile to another, trying to prove that she actually knew where things were.

"Where is Seth? I though he was helping you this summer." I straightened a pile of appointment books that looked like they were about to topple over. "Mom are you sure you don't want to go digital?" Summers were usually the busiest season for the shop but things seemed a little more messy than I remembered from when I had worked here last year.

"Seth spent most of the morning washing down the boats that are still here. He has gone to see Kendrick, something about a reading list." It might have just been my imagination but I thought there was a little resentment in my mother's voice. "I don't have the help I used to Leah, with your father gone things got a little harder." For a moment she looked out the window, there was nothing out there to see but a couple of boats and some birds; was she resenting me for leaving her with this business to run by herself - but no she was a mother, was proud that I had gone to school.

A wave of guilt overcame me, I had spent the past year trying to get over Sam and I had succeeded - all there was left was the residual pain from when he left me for Emily, but in my attempts to get away from Sam I had managed to outgrown this place. I had not only left Sam behind, but in a small way I had also left my mother here. When I was with Sam it was practical for us to come back here to live out the rest of our lives on the reservation. With Phil there was no change whatsoever of that happening. I looked around the small shop that was filled to the brim with childhood memories, this was the place of my childhood but it was no longer where I belonged.

My father's favorite poem was by Robert Frost, _The__Road__Not__Taken._He loved it so much it was printed out and framed on the wall behind the counter. I knew the words by heart, but I reread the words anyway:

_Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,_

_And sorry I could not travel both_

_And be one traveler, long I stood_

_And looked down one as far as I could_

_To where it bent in the undergrowth;_

_Then took the other, as just as fair,_

_And having perhaps the better claim,_

_Because it was grassy and wanted wear;_

_Though as for that the passing there_

_Had them really about the same,_

_And both that morning equally lay_

_In leaves no step had trodden black._

_Oh, I kept the first for another day!_

_Yet knowing how way leads on to way,_

_I doubted if I should ever come back._

_I shall be telling this with a sigh_

_Somewhere ages and ages hence:_

_Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -_

_I took the one less traveled by,_

_And that has made all the difference._

It was like he had written the words just for me, I looked back at my past. There had been two roads: one was staying on the Rez and doing the easy thing, get teaching degree, come back and help my mother run the boat shop in the summer when school was out. The other road was less certain, walking with Phil down the less traveled path - joining his family and becoming a guardian. Frost was right, I knew when I went down the path with Phil that I could not go back to the other safer path; the path where I stayed at the Rez and lived the normal life was not an option anymore. But like I had told Blossom, I not longer could see myself living the normal human life.

My mother pulled herself together, the narrowing of her eyes as she looked back at me was disconcerting. "You will not distract me so quickly, Leah do you have any idea what you are doing?"

So we were going to discuss this here and now, I could live with that. "Mom what would you like me to do? Break up with him?" It was a ludicrous suggestion, there was not way to separate myself from Phil.

"Leah do not be pig headed, you know exactly what I mean. I like Phil, he is a very nice man that seems to care a great deal about you, but is this not too soon?"

It was hard to keep a straight face with my mother calling Phil is a nice man, obviously whatever he had told her on their initial meeting still carried some weight. It would not help my case to laugh out loud at this point so I swallowed my laugh and tried to explain my relationship with Phil, again.

"I have known Phil for nearly a year now, it might seem sudden to you but it has not been a quick decision." It was frustrating trying to explain to my mother when I could not explain the three months I spent with Phil and the rest of his family on the island.

"Leah, I don't see what you two could possibly have in common? He is charismatic and is quite wealthy, but I don't see why he would stay with you?"

"Oh he just wants me for my body," I answered flippantly, this was a bad habit of mine. When I got nervous or upset my sarcasm would escalate, most of the time it did not help the situation. I was getting upset with my mother, not because she had done anything, but because I could not properly explain what Phil and I meant to each other.

"How do you know that is not the case, I mean you are a young and pretty girl." My mother actually had given this thought serious consideration.

I tried to keep the laughter out of my voice, "if Phil wanted a pretty young thing I assure you with his money and status as a plastic surgeon he could have gotten someone far prettier - and with a lot less attitude."

"Leah this is the rest of your life we are talking about, what will you do if Phil leaves you? How will you cope this time?" My mother was genuinely worried about this.

"Mom I am twenty years old, you were only nineteen when you decided to spend the rest of your life with dad and married him. I am not getting married to Phil at least not until I finish school, so I have a few more years to change my mind." It seemed like we had this discussion before.

"It was a different time back then, and I married your father before I moved in with him." There was a stubborn look on her face, she was not going to let this go.

"So what mom, it would all be ok if I just married him? Because if that is what you want I can call him up, Phil would do that for me if it was what I really wanted." As girls we dream of our wedding days, we line up our dolls and put on their biggest, prettiest dresses and make them marry the boy doll in the perfect ceremony that ends with a kiss - but I was not longer that girl, I did not need the marriage thing to make it real. Phil and I were tightly bound together, the past year coupled with our unique binding/imprinting process had resulted in a relationship that is stronger than marriage. My fight with him had reinforced how much I needed him in my life, and the fact that he got over being pissed off in less than twenty four hours kind of told me he needed me just as much.

"Just be careful Leah, it seems that only a few months ago you were completely entangled in Sam. I don't want the same thing happening again." I could see the fear in my mother's eyes, and there was no way to reassure her about it without giving away Phil's secrets.

"How do I say this without coming off as a complete bitch?" My mother gave me a dirty look for swearing but she did not say anything, I guess she has gotten used to it since I had done a great deal of cursing in the past year or so. "I don't know what type of person Sam is, I never really got to know him since I was too busy spinning fairy tales around him. I had this perfect life planned out for both of us, and Sam was the one that was going to be my prince. I was so busy planning our life together that I never really asked Sam what he wanted to do." I saw my mother open her mouth to interrupt but I held up my hand to signal for her to wait. "I am not going to say that I know everything about Phil either, but Phil does not allow me to make assumption, he makes sure I get to know the real man."

"Now Leah, Sam is a very nice person, it is not his fault..."

"Mother, I am going to quote Phil on this one, 'we cannot choose who we love, but we can choose what we are going to do about it'. Sam made his choices, he could have done what he did a little different, Emily made her choices as well." It was interesting to see my mother trying to defend Sam, maybe it was bitterness but I was really starting to question what I really had seen in the guy.

"How do you know Phil will not move on? I mean you are a very nice young lady.." She went back to this point, I could tell she had not been satisfied with my previous answer.

I took a deep breath, and tried to reign in my temper. I don't know why I was getting angry, I had accused Phil of something much worse just a couple of weeks ago - but there was a difference between my stupid mouth in the middle of an emotional moment and my mother believing that Phil would be capable of getting tired of me and leaving.

"Mom, there are very few things that are certain in this universe. One of them is Phil, you do not know what type of person he is. When he commits it is for eternity, forever. I have already been told to make sure that this is what I want because his family does not divorce under any circumstances." They put a lot of thought into it before they got married, it was not a drunk night in Vegas thing.

"There is always a first time for everything," my mother pointed out, clearly not understand my point.

"Of all the things you could be worried about, Phil leaving me should never be one of them. Trust me I have done enough stuff to try to push him away," I shook my head at my own foolishness.

"Like what?" she seemed a little too eager to know.

"Nothing important now, needless to say I hurt his feeling. Do you know what happened?" I did not give her a chance to answer his question. "Two different members of his family tried to come in and tried to help.

It was a relief when we were interrupted by a customer, I stood back while I waited for my mother to finish. This is not why I had come, to argue with my mother. _What__did__you__think__would__happen__Leah?__You__guys__bake__cookies__together?__Have__a__big__heart__to__heart__and__give__each__other__pedicures?_

Sadly I knew what I really wanted, and that was my daddy, he was the one that I could always talk to. It had been my father that always understood me, I was expecting my mother to suddenly turn into the daddy I lost a year ago, he had been the one I could talk to freely. My attempts to gain my mother's approval might have been foolhardy, this seemed like such a forced situation. It suddenly occurred to me that I was talking to the wrong parent, it was my father that I needed.

I stayed around the shop for the rest of the afternoon, straightening up and helping a couple of potential customers while my mother went to the back to catch-up on customers. When my mother closed for the night I told her I was going to go see if I could find Jake and hang out with him for a few hours, I lied to my mother because I did not want to tell her where I was really going - the cemetery.

We might be native americans but our burial grounds looked pretty much like every other Christian cemetery, crosses and plaques dotted the ground. Most were covered with a generous coating of moss.

I parked across the street, there used to be a fence enclosing the space but it had fallen into disrepair over the years so there was no discernible gate or path to enter the place. The clouds had thinned a little and the sun was making a rare appearance, I wished it had stayed away. The bright rays were highlighting the signs of decay and death around me. My father's grave was in the back right, it took me a minute to locate the right one since I had not been back here since the funeral. The small square stone was relatively clear of the greenery, based on the green streaks on it I would guess someone had recently cleaned it. I wondered who it was?

I looked around me and listened, there was an old truck rumbling down the road, but other than that I was completely alone. I kneeled down next to the gravestone, the damp grass immediately soaked the knees of my jeans.

"Hi daddy, I feel pretty stupid just sitting here talking to a rock. I guess I can tell you what I have been doing for the past year...since you...left. I am going to college now, that is going pretty well." I spend the next hour kneeling by the small stone telling my father about all the things he had missed. I told my father the full truth about Phil, and his family; it might have been somewhat sad but I needed my father's approval more than my mother's. "You would like him daddy, he is a good man. Phil is my companion for my road less traveled, and while I know it will not always be an easy thing it will be worth it."

There was conviction in my words, my father would have loved Phil - just as soon as he got over the fact that Phil was taking his precious little girl away from him. I laughed at the thought; my father would have pulled out all his guns when Phil first came over - I wish my father had lived long enough to attempt to threaten Phil.

I headed back to my car, there was a beeping sound signaling that I had a text message. It was from Phil:

_ Hi princess, what are you doing? Love you, Phil._

I gave another small laugh, and wiped the tears off my face before I answered him.

_ Just talking to my daddy, going to go have dinner with my mom. I miss you._

XOXOXOXO

* * *

I woke up late the next morning, I had gone on patrols with Jake and had stayed out past three in the morning. I had forgotten how much fun and annoying it was to have everyone in my head. Seth, Quil, and Embry had all joined us on patrol; they spent a great deal of time questioning me regarding my time on the island, and the family. I tried to keep it clean but sometimes images accidentally slipped in. They were absolutely fascinated by my memories of going to the other planets.

Seth did not come home with me, instead he had gone to say goodnight to Sassy; she was going to Port Angeles to deal with some paperwork at the court and Seth was already depressed by the thought that he would not see her all day.

It was my brother's loud "honey, I'm home" greeting that woke me in the morning. I threw a pillow at him when he came to stand in the doorway of my bedroom.

"Go away," I mumbled trying to get back to sleep, but it was useless since I had thrown away my only pillow. I groaned and decided I may as well go with it, and rolled out of bed heading for the bathroom.

When I was done with my shower I grabbed a bowl of cereal and joined him on the couch.

"Mom will kill you if she sees you eating that here," Seth pointed out as he channel surfed.

"Hmmm about that, I probably should warn you about something." I was reluctant to bring this up but Seth needed to know.

"What is wrong?" Seth asked turning towards me.

"Hey wait a minute. Are you not supposed to be at work?" I asked him not really wanting to tell him what I had done.

"Mom gave me a few days off, we had a really big group of rentals this past weekend and I worked fourteen hour days three days in a row trying to make sure the boats would be ready for the next group of renters. It really sucked because there were too many people around for me to use my wolf strength." I had to laugh at his disgruntled look. "So what are you doing today?"

"I was going to go to the store to hang out with mom, but she is being totally freaky about the whole living with Phil thing. So I might hang around the house, maybe see about making dinner." I rolled my eyes at the chocking gestures he was making and used the opportunity to steal the remote.

"By the way, did you know that mom thinks that Kendrick is Sassy's boyfriend?" I asked casually as I flipped through the channels.

I heard Seth laugh, "yeah, that is really nice. Mom finally figured out I imprinted on Sassy, but she feels safe knowing Kendrick stands between us."

"Ummmm, about that. I kind of corrected mom last night." Seth gave me a horror filled look. I tried to defend myself a little, "how was I supposed to know she did not know they were cousins? I mean they freaking look alike."

"Oh come on Leah, mom is going to be all crazy about stuff now." Seth flopped back on the couch with a groan. It did not take him long to forgive me though, that was my little Seth - he just went with things, he never held a grudge.

I would like to say we did something really productive but our good intentions were totally shot when we realized there was a Farscape Marathon on the Scifi channel. I mean come on John Crichton, how much more yummy can you get - he has big muscles, he is smart, and he is super sweet to his bitch of a girlfriend. Come to think of it he kind of reminded me of Phil. I don't know why my brother and I enjoyed the show, it had been cancelled before we had started watching it. Regardless of all that we were enjoying the escapades of our favorite astronaut and his Peacekeeper girlfriend Aeryn Sun when my mother came home.

"I see you guys accomplished a great deal today," my mother eyed the two of us spread out on the couch.

"Oh come on mom, this it is a Farscape marathon." We both said in unison, before bursting into laughter. Mother just shook her head at us before heading into the kitchen to make something for dinner. She mumbled about worthless children while we went back to our Farscape fix.

I wandered over to the kitchen during commercials to see if my mother needed any help. "I can actually boil water now mom, Phil has been very patient in teaching me."

My mother narrowed her eyes, I guess she was still pissed over the fact that I was living in sin or whatever. She had brought up the living with a man I am not married to thing last night over dinner - I don't know why she bothered, it would only lead to us arguing again. She could not seem to make up her mind whether I should marry Phil or not. Since she was only reheating the leftover casserole from last night so I headed back to the living room; maybe I would offer to wash the dishes or something.

We were in the middle of watching Crichton caressing his gun Winona when we heard a truck driving towards our house, this would not normally have been an issue since my mother is a tribal elder we get people stopping by the house all the time. The screeching tires as it came to a halt in front of the house gave us the first inkling that this was not going to be an ordinary visit.

I did not recognize the truck, it was pretty much one of the typical white trucks that everyone seemed to favor around these parts, the driver had a hat on so we could not see his face as he leaned over to grab something before opening his door. Seth and I looked outside to see who the heck was in such a hurry. For a moment I could not recognize the person stepping down, but the angry frown helped me figure it out - Maples.

"What do you think he wants?" Seth asked getting up from the couch and heading to the door.

"Hey wait, are you supposed to talk to him without Sassy being present?" I got up to follow him, ready to do I don't know what. I had a really bad feeling about this, how the hell how could this possibly go bad - this was a cop who thought his daughter was raped by my little brother.

"It would be kind of hard to avoid talking to him when he is headed for our front door." Seth did not hesitate for a moment, he just threw the door open and stepped out onto the porch.

"Wait here mom, let us figure out what he wants." I stepped out next to my brother firmly closing the door behind me. I could hear my mother trying to open the door but I was holding the doorknob preventing her from coming outside. I wondered how long it would take her to realize she could just use the kitchen door in the back. Hopefully it would be long enough that we could diffuse this situation.

"Where are you... you little punk?" Maples screamed as he started walking towards the house.

He had not seen my little brother and me standing on the porch, it was barely dusk so there should have been plenty of light to see us.

Maples was not looking that great, I was used to seeing him in his police uniform but right now he was wearing a pair of dirty looking jeans with a ratty and worn looking plaid button up shirt. The normal police hat had been replaced by a baseball cap that, like its owner, had seen better days. But the worst part of it was the smell of alcohol coming off his breath, I could not believe how much a man had changed in just a few weeks. I guess some people could not handle stress, his eyes were bloodshot with huge purple bags underneath, he did not look like or smell like he had taken a shower in a couple of days.

All this was quickly forgotten as he reached under his shirt and pulled out a revolver. I did not think it was his service revolver since that had been taken away after he had hit Sassy, but that was not relevant at this point.

"It is all your fault," he screamed at Seth, waving the gun around.

"Why don't we all just calm down and talk a little bit." I tried to remember where my phone was, this was a time when we really needed to call Sassy or come to think of it any member of the family would have done well.

"You want me to calm down? I am not going to calm down! It is all his fault, and that bitch of a lawyer of yours is going to make sure he gets away with it." His speech was a slurred, he was seriously drunk. A very angry drunk with a gun, seriously how come this sort of shit only happened on the Rez. Was this not supposed to be the small quiet town?

Seth nodded in my direction, "let us circle him and see if we can tackle him." He was right we needed to get that gun away from him before he accidentally shot someone. We slowly stepped off the porch, I approached from the left while Seth circled around from the right. I could hear that my mother had come outside but she was not saying anything as we approached the drunk man mumbling obscenities under his breath.

We were about three yards away from him when he noticed us again, he looked surprised for a second but then he got an evil look in his eye, "you don't have a daughter but I guess your sister can substitute."

It seemed to happen all in slow motion as he raised the gun towards me, Seth jumped in front of him and that is when the gun went off. I watched as Seth crumpled to the ground, but Maples kept shooting at him. I rushed Maples and gave him a shove away from Seth, not taking my wolf strength into consideration Maples flew through the air. I did not pay too much attention to him, there was a large cracking sound as Maples hit a tree and crumpled to the ground. Seth was the one that worried me, I heard my mother whimper Seth's name as we both rushed to see how badly he was hurt.

I kind of went on autopilot as my mother turned my brother over so that he was lying on his back in a puddle of his own blood. I tried to remember what CPR was, since Seth no longer had a heartbeat. "Mom go to my bedroom and grab my phone. Mom! Just go get the phone on my nightstand, I need you to get my phone. Do not do anything else but that."

My mother's eye were huge I gave he a little shove in the direction of the house before I went back to Seth.

I was pushed on his chest a few times and then leaned over to try to breathe into his mouth. I needed to get Seth to the family doctors, they would patch him up. The family had superior technology plus I would not have to explain how my brother was capable of healing so quickly.

I don't know how long I continued the pattern of pushing on his chest then breaths when I felt a strong arms pull me away from my brother. Ready to fight off the person who was trying to harm my brother I looked up through the tears I had not know were falling from my eyes to see Sassy looking down at me with determination etched into her face.

"I need to take him home, you have to let him go for a while. Call Phil, he will come to help you." She was kneeling down next to me, pulling me fully away from Seth. I stepped back from my little brother, knowing she would take care of him for me. Sassy's normally calm voice faltered as she spoke.

"Will he be all right?" My voice shook as well, that was my only concern currently.

Her eyes were a deep shade of purple, she was looking into the future. "Yes he will be fine but I need to take him now. Call Phil about the other one, he is beyond help." Sassy reached down and picked up my brother bridal style before heading around the house, I heard the twinkling of bells for a few more seconds and then they were gone. Seth would be safe, Sassy would take care of him. That is what I had to tell myself, she had said he would be all right. She was a psychic, she knew these sort of things.

I stood up and looked around, the huge patch of my blood on the ground where my brother had been shot caught my eyes and it became impossible to look away from the gruesome sight. I was still staring at the blood when I hear my mother open the front door, he hasty footsteps quickly came to a halt on the porch.

"Oh my god where is Seth?" She asked in a high pitched voice, she sounded panicked and confused.

I tried to think of a lie to cover this situation, but there was nothing I could think of right now. I looked into her wide eyes and told her as much of the truth as I could. "Seth is safe, he is being taken to a hospital." Taking the phone away from her I realized that this was going to be a delicate situation and the less my mother knew the better. So I would have to get rid of her before I called Phil.

"Mom you are covered in blood, please go back inside and change shirts. Get rid of all the blood." My mother's eyes were huge as she looked up at me. It seemed like she was not fully functional anymore and so I gave her another little shove towards the door. "Go and change mom."

"Which hospital and why did I not hear an ambulance?" She seemed to get a herself together a little bit more.

"Mom I need you to not ask questions, I assure you Seth will be well taken care of." I pushed her towards the door. "Mom go wash off the blood." She finally listened to me and went back inside.

It felt like our roles were reversed this time, my mother was falling apart while I felt and unnaturally calm considering the fact that my little brother was shot up and I had just killed a man. Was I going into shock? Maybe but that was not important right now, calling Phil was. _Seth__is__safe,__Sassy__would__do__anything__and__everything__possible__to__make__sure__he__would__be__all__right_. As for the dead man I would have to deal with him very quickly.

I needed to call Phil, it was what I should have done when Maples first showed up. For once he picked up on the first ring, "Hi Princess what can I do for you?"

"Phil I need you." I whispered quietly into the phone, my hands were starting to shake as I walked over to the tree in our front yard. Maples was crumples and still next to it, his heart was not longer beating. So he really was dead, the strange angle of his neck reiterated the fact that he would not walk away from this.

"Are you all right?" Phil sounded concerned.

"I am not hurt, but I think... I think I just killed someone." My voice sounded muted and hoarse but he still seemed to hear me.

"I will be right there, do not touch anything." He told me before hanging up.

I looked down at the blood on my hands, it was my little brother's blood. This man had attacked my family, I could not seem to feel sorry for what I had done. I would do it again without hesitation, no one messes with my family.

I heard a gasp and looked up at a pair of horror filled eyes staring at me. The man standing there was not the one I had expected or wanted.

"Oh my god what have you done Leah?" Sam looked from me to Maples with disgust.

* * *

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit long but I just kept adding to it, and there was no good stopping point except the end. Well some of you might not think it was a good stopping point. Yes, yes I am evil.

On a side note just for something fun to do I started writing Phil's side of the story, I don't know how it happened but he is kind of a pig. I was just writing it from his viewpoint and no matter how I twisted it he tends to be somewhat of a pervert when he is not plotting the gruesome death of Sam.

On a more serious note the story about the abuse was real, unfortunately I did not make that up. There was a point in time when I worked in a clinic and this broken woman came in to see the doctor. We ended up giving her meds that were supposed to help with anxiety and depression but she would not accept any other help. She really just did not want to feel anything anymore.

Lette2001: Glad you liked the make up sex, I tried to make it a little different.

Jamime2772: Speaking of cupcakes, why do they sell cupcakes in sets of 30? I am then obligated to eat them because you can't waste cupcakes. Work and responsibility is kind of a pain, especially when you are on a deadline. What do you think of this chapter? too long?

Connect2tjb: Thanks added some more Blossom in this chapter, I want Leah not to be only into Phil because it is kind of scary how much Bella was into Edward and only Edward.

Twilighter: Thank you for being so sweet. Yes there is such a thing as too many lemons, at least I get bored with them after a while. There is most definitely a thing called too few lemons... yeah I am talking to you author of Breaking Dawn... you know who you are. But we should have known considering I don't think there was a point where he even slipped her some tongue.

Jada91: Thanks for the support, always appreciate it.


	41. Damage Control

40 - Damage Control

Sam's eyes were full of accusations as he looked up from Maples' body. "You murdered him? How could you do that?"

Seeing the censure in those brown eyes made guilt flood my system. _Oh__God__what__had__I__done?__What__would__the__police__say?__I__was__just__trying__to__protect__my__little__brother._ The little brother who was not here, but there was no choice in that matter there was very little chance that he could have survived those wounds. At least not using the current technologies on earth. I had done it to protect my family, this was not the first time I had killed for that reason. The only problem was that those had been leeches, so they did not count - they were already half-dead so what did it matter if I helped finish the job. While the Cullen family was made up of vampires but they acted too much like humans to be counted in the leech category, unlike the red-eyed monsters that had invaded last May. Those creatures I had killed without an inkling of remorse because they needed to die.

The man on the ground in front of me was a person, he had a family; as much as I hated the bitch Jill, there was a very large possibility that her father was gone. I did not see the man crumpled and still in front of me, instead I was looking at a man lying in a hospital bed. His normally russet skin now had a sickly purple tint to it, his heart was failing him, it was no longer pumping well enough to keep him alive - it would soon beat one last time.

I came back to reality when Sam started talking again.

"I mean...really...Leah...what..." Sam was blinking slowly...once...twice and then he slowly collapsed into a heap at my feet. My surprise prevented me from even attempting to catch him, why the hell had Sam just fainted like a total sissy?

My concern lasted only for a moment - Phil was standing right behind him, a look of concentration on his face. "Princess, are you all right?" Unlike Sam there was no tone of accusation, all I could hear was concern and love coming from him. I threw my hands around him, squeezing a little harder than I should have. Phil did not complain about my embrace, in fact he was holding me just as tightly. All to quickly he let go of me in order to run his hands down my back and arms, trying to look for where I was hurt.

"I told you I am fine," I whispered into his shoulder, "but I think Maples is...dead." The last word came out as a near sob. Reluctantly pulling away I looked down at the corpse at my feet. Surprisingly I could not see any blood, just a crumpled body. His skull looked a little lopsided and his head was at the wrong angle, I was not a doctor by any means but this did not good.

"Don't worry about that, so long as you are all right." The relief in his tone was evident as once again he pulled me against his chest and away from the two bodies in front of us. I was going to assume that Sam was asleep because of something Phil had done to him. "Tell me what happened, as quickly as possible. But don't leave out any details, especially ones where you interacted with other people."

The whole story came out, Seth and I coming out here to confront him, the alcohol on his breath as well as the threats. "He wanted to shoot me and Seth," I had to stop for a moment as I remembered that man shooting my little brother, "Seth stopped him from shooting me. I swear it was an accident..." I told him on a sob, what if Phil blamed me for this?

"I know Princess, you were just protecting your family." He gave me a small kiss on the forehead, telling me exactly what I needed to hear, "now let us clean this up so that we can all get on with our lives. I need you to go inside and keep your mother distracted."

"Can't you do the magic erase memory thing." I forgot exactly which one of the family members had told me about that particular skill, but I knew they were capable of making you forget things. Hell, Phil had easily done that to me when those three vampires had attacked us in the woods.

"Your mother just watched as her son was shot multiple times, I assure you there is no way she will ever be able to forget that. You are going to find a way to appease her." Phil pulled away from our embrace and looked down at the bodies in front of us.

"I have to do all this without actually telling her the truth." My question came out as a statement.

Phil gave me a slow nod as he pulled out his phone and started texting people. He did not give me any more direction than that, I guess it was all up to me.

I looked at the house to see my mother peeking out, her eyes practically bugging out of her head. My intentions when ordering her inside to wash her hands and change her shirt had been simple, get her away while I contacted the family to come help. Now that I considered it again it had been a good plan, we needed to hide the fact that Seth was involved in all this. No one had seen him all day long, he had come home straight from the cabin, so we could pretend he was not here. I muttered my words out loud, so that Phil could hear me. His only reply was a muttered, "excellent" before he went back to whatever he was doing on his phone.

I closed the door behind me as I stepped into the house, my neck was starting feel really tight, a sure sign that I was going to get a really bad headache soon.

"Leah where is Seth? What is Phil..." She started speaking as soon as I closed the door behind me, her words were so quick they were almost slurring together. She was breathing quickly and shallowly as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Phil was trying to fix the mess I made, my job was to deal with mother. There was no way to tell her the lie right now, she had seen too much. So I would go for the truth, as much as the truth as I could tell. I stood between her and the window, trying to get her to make eye contact with me; it also had the added benefit of her not being able to see what was going on outside. "Mom, I need you to look at me. Seth will be all right, he will be back in a few days when he feels better." My mother's eyes were round, her heartbeat was very erratic and I was starting to get concerned - what happens if she has a heart attack? I pulled her over to sit on the couch, she allowed me to push her onto the cushions with little resistance. "Listen mom there are certain questions that will never be answered. There are things that you will never know. It is paramount that you do not dwell into these mysteries."

"But you know these things." She interrupted, her eyes narrowing I saw my mother gain a little bit of herself back. Her breathing slowed a little, as she realized I had been keeping things from her. I would take my mother being angry with me over her sitting there freaking out.

"You are right, there are secrets that I keep. Ones that you will never know about, but that is irrelevant at this point. Right now we have other problems. Please trust me in this, Seth is going to be all right. I promise he is." I looked into her eyes trying to convey my sincerity. Despite all the secrets I had been keeping from her I needed her to trust me.

My mother's heart rate and breathing increased again, I mentally kicked myself. _Good__job__Leah,__way__to__keep__her__calm;__just__remind__her__of__how__many__bullets__were__in__her__son_.

"Mom. Mom, listen to me Seth is going to be all right, but he will be gone for a few days time. When he comes back he will be as good as new." I had to trust Sassy and her willingness to take care of my little brother. I needed to make sure my mother understood this without telling her any details.

"Leah you will tell me..." I could see her anger kicking in. Despite the circumstances I could not help but smile a little, I knew who to blame for my short temper.

"No mother, I will not tell you, some secrets are not mine to reveal. It would do a lot more harm than good to share them with you." I could her her heartbeat picking up again. "I need you to sit here and calm down for a minute." I went to get her a glass of water from the kitchen. She was eyeing the door when I came back, "mom can you to be like Charlie right now? Do not waste both our time by asking questions."

"Does this involve Phil?" My mother asks going for the heart of the matter.

"Yes, and I need to go see what he is doing. Can you lie down on the couch for a few minutes? Your heart is starting to concern me, and I don't want Seth to come back to a mother in the hospital." I helped push her down on the couch, for once she listened to me. I wondered if she was still in shock and that is why she was willing to let me boss her around.

Blossom was standing around the body, somehow I could not seem to say his name, there was another man I had never met. He was smaller than Phil, probably a little shy of six feet tall with light brown hair that looked like it had been a few months since it had gotten a decent haircut. The well worn jeans and plain grey t-shirt helped add to the casual look. His face was soft and slightly rounded, if it was not for the pale green eyes that he shared with Blossom and Phil I would have mistaken him for one of the kids that went to college with me. His eyes gave him away, they did not belong to a college kid.

"Leah, Percy." Phil said by way of introduction. Percy nodded my way as he bent down and looked at Maples a little closer.

"This should be easy enough to cover up," Percy's tone was cool, almost emotionless. I felt shivers run up and down my spine, Phil noticed and gave my shoulder a quick reassuring squeeze before we got back to the business at hand.

"All right let me get lover-boy out of the way," Blossom bent down and picked up Sam's still unconscious body. "So you want me to seduce him when he wakes up?" She was looking at me.

"Are you guys going to try to erase his memory?" Even I could hear the hope in my voice. Sam had not understood the situation but what was the worst part was that he had assumed the worst. He thought I was just causally able to kill a man?

"It should not be a problem, you said he did not see that much, so the only thing to do is to explain to him why he woke up in the middle of the forest." Phil was concentrating on something, trying to come up with a good enough lie I guess.

"It will be really awkward for him to wake up with me crawling on top of him. I can take one for the team." Blossom pointed out with a mischievous look, I rolled my eyes at her. Even in a time of crisis she was still a total slut, it sounded like she would be happy to try that plan.

"But I remembered bits when it happened." There had been dreams that made me suspicious of Phil for a while. He had not done a perfect job erasing my memory and it would really be hard to explain if Sam somehow remembered seen the body in my mother's front yard.

"That was a special circumstance, the spirit I share my body with wanted for you to find out about me. So when you fell asleep in my house, it sent you the dreams." Phil was only half paying attention while he explained, he was concentrating on something else.

"So he will not remember anything." I wanted to clarify, Sam knowing might make it harder to keep the family secrets.

"Not likely no, we will ask Jake to keep an eye on him to make sure he is not getting any flashed of memories and that will pretty much be it." Phil looked back at me.

"The only problem is the gunshots, it would be hard to get away with the fact that there were those noises so we are going to have to admit this guy was here. Otherwise we could just dump the body in the ocean for the sharks to tear apart." Percy tone was as casual as if he was talking about taking the empty pickle jars to the recyclers.

"How am I going to explain the throwing him across the front yard?" I might have been able to say attacking him was an act of self-defense except in the way I had protected myself - a twenty year old girl should not have been able throw him that far.

"All right, here goes, you came to visit your mom yesterday. You woke up this morning but did not feel like bothering your mother at work so you stayed home and did what?" Phil was concentrating on me now, it seemed he had figure out his plan. I don't know if I should be happy or scared that he could come up with a plan to cover up a dead body this quickly.

"Seth and I hung out on the couch watching a Farscape marathon?" It should not have come out as a question, it is what we had done.

"All right, you overslept and stayed home to watch TV. Your mom came home a few minutes ago and that is when Maples showed up smelling of alcohol and waving his gun around. He managed to accidentally shoot if off without actually hitting anything. You ran into the house and a few minutes later he took off, that is when you got brave enough to call the police." Phil went through the modified version of my day, I was impressed most of it was the truth.

"What about Seth?" How was I going to account for his absence.

"Has anyone seen him since last night?" Blossom asked quietly still holding the sleeping Sam - I tried not to laugh, she was holding him like a groom holds his bride. The leer she sent his way also smacked of what a groom would look like while anticipating his wedding night. For a moment I felt the need to rescue Sam from her, but fortunately the feeling soon passed.

"We went on patrols half the night but then he went to see Sassy before home and woke me up." I was still grumbling over that.

"So it is safe to say that no one saw him on his way home, we are going to go with this assumption." Phil was nodding at Percy who seemed to know what to do.

I watched in horror as Percy stripped off Maples shirt and pulled in on, the hat was put on his head after a quick sniff and a grimace. I did not blame him I could smell the rancid mixture of sweat, alcohol and cigarette smoke that clung to Maples and I was not even wearing the stuff. "Wow this guy really should acquaint himself with this new invention called soap. You owe me for this Phil."

"I will babysit your kids," Phil replied with a smirk.

"Yeah well I don't know if Ari will let you near them. I can't believe you tried to teach my three year old to shoot a gun." There was a small smile filled with pride on Percy's face as he spoke about his child. "Oh well let me get this over with."

Phil helped Percy load Maples into his truck. I was going to go help but Phil pushed me back a little. "The less you touch him the less chance of transferring evidence to the body."

I watched as Phil and Percy tried to maneuver the body so that it would fit on the floor of the truck, it would really suck if someone saw the body.

"So Leah how do you want to do this the boring way or the fun way?" I looked over to see Blossom grinning like a fool.

The smile on her face made me think I should really go for the boring way. "Tell me your plans, but more than likely the boring way." I was certain I would not like her fun plan.

There was an instant pout on her mouth, it was hard to resist not giving in. She heaved a big sigh, and shifted Sam in her arms. "Well, the boring plan is drag him to middle of the woods and find a rock to smash his head against. I get to 'rescue' him when he finally wakes up. I will be very grateful that he took the hit for me when he rescued me from tumbling down the hill. He will be groggy and have a little amnesia, easily explained by the head injury; plus it will give me a good opportunity to hit on him and ask him out to dinner." Blossom was having way to much fun right about now.

"If that is the boring way what is the fun way?" I was almost hesitant to ask.

"Oh that one is he wakes up naked next to me in the middle of some seedy motel with the mother of all hangovers." Blossom heaved a large sigh, she was looking down at Sam with a great deal of pity, "I mean it is not my fault some people can't hold their liquor."

"I am tempted to tell you to go for plan B and make sure to take lots of pictures but he has imprinted. Considering you are not his wife it would raise a lot of suspicions for you to be found naked with him." For a moment I pictured Sam's reaction when he woke up in bed next to Blossom, but I could not do that to him. I knew what it felt like being betrayed, I did not wish that on Emily - though the thought was tempting.

Blossom pouted, "I bet you I could seduce him. I have skills you would not believe."

She would have said more but we were interrupted by the noise of Maples' truck being started, followed by Percy burning rubber pulling out of our driveway. He managed to take out our mailbox while he turned onto the road. The speed which he was driving coupled with the hat and shirt made it impossible to tell that he was not Maples.

"Go Blossom, we have to call the police." Phil came back to us, "thanks for doing this, I owe you."

"Don't worry about it, this is fun. I might just make a new friend here. Have to stalk him for a while, I mean he is the hero that saved my life." Blossom batted her eyelashes at us before she turned around and quickly headed to the forest.

"All right let us go deal with your mother before we call the police." Phil seemed reluctant to go into the house. Not that I blamed him, my mother was the wildcard in this situation.

We found her where I had left her, she quickly sat up when we stepped into the house - her heart rate increasing again. Phil did not give her time to say anything instead he took charge of the situation immediately.

"All right we will do it this way, Mrs Clearwater your son has gone with Kendrick to Yosemite. If anyone asks about the relationship between Seth and Kendrick, he is a cousin of mine and you met them through me. They were planning on going to see El Capitan, Kendrick is a climber and was going to do some preliminary research before climbing it. They should have made it there this afternoon, but there is little to no cell service so you have no way of contacting them." The confidence with which Phil told his story made me almost believe him - and I knew he was lying.

"Wait what is this about a captain?" My mother was confused.

"Leah go get your mother something to drink, preferably juice." Phil murmured so quietly that my mother probably did not hear him.

I quickly went to follow his orders but the conversation in the next room still held all my attention.

"I will not repeat myself, it will be better if you don't know all the details since it will sound like you are reciting something you memorized." Sometimes Phil really scared me.

"So you want us to lie to the police?" There was a slight tremor to my mother's voice, I guess she was a little afraid as well. I could not tell if it was regarding her son or the man in front of her.

"Would you prefer your daughter go to jail for assaulting a police officer? or would you care to explain to the police that Maples shot Seth several time but he is going to walk away form it?"

"Seth will be all right?" My mother was still afraid, I shoved a glass of orange juice in her hand.

"Yes he will be fine, but you can't see him right now. Right now your _daughter_ needs you to get it together. Do you understand me?" He was staring at her, trying to make my mother bend to his will. Normally I would have been pissed at him for pushing my mother around but she seemed to be totally lost.

To my relief my mother nodded slowly in acceptance.

"You came home, and were starting to make dinner when you heard a commotion outside, Maples was arguing with your daughter and waving his gun around. He shot the gun off and you ran inside with Leah, both of you hid in the back bedroom before you determined that he had gone. That is when you got up and called Jake, he is a good family friend. You did not call the police because it was the police who had just shot at you." As he spoke Phil went over to the kitchen phone and dialed Jake's number. I was surprised how quickly Jake caught on and started following orders.

"When Jake gets here have him park over the blood stain where Seth was shot. I need to go, I will be back in a couple of hours." He pulled me into a quick hug, his lips touching mine briefly before he looked into my eyes again. "You did good protecting your family, I am very proud of you. Just stick to your story, and we will take care of the rest. Now call the police."

As I reached for the phone I watched as Phil walked out the back door, the need to call him back was strong. But I knew what I had to do, I dialed the Rez police.

"Police department how may I help you?" I took a deep breath and started with the half truths. I did not have to fake the tremor of fear in my voice.

* * *

The sky was not completely overcast for once, the stars were peeking out from behind the clouds like beautiful diamonds glittering happily above me. I was not able to enjoy the beauty of the night, there was too much on my mind, like the need to get home. Phil had made it perfectly clear that he would not jump me home tonight, despite the fact that I desperately needed for him to come get me. He was very specific in his instructions, I would have to travel the conventional way this evening. So much for protecting me from drunk drivers.

So here I was driving from the Rez to Seattle all alone with only the radio to keep me company. Phil kept calling me to check on my progress but he could not stay on the line for very long because he still was at work and had patients to deal with.

"Sorry Leah, you will have to drive home the regular way. I know it sucks but I need you to do it." I had Phil on speaker so that I could pretend he was sitting next to me in the car.

"I will probably get lost or something, I don't think I have ever made this trip by myself." So I was acting all bitchy and needy. I watched my little brother get shot up, and I killed a guy - all in one afternoon. This was followed by sitting in the Rez police station for over six hours while my mother and I explained over and over again what had happened with Maples. Phil had told me to not make up a detailed answer, it was not expected in a situation like this, so I kept frustrating everyone around me by saying 'I don't really remember'. I was cranky, tired and hungry; so excuse me if I was not at my personal best.

I have to hand it to Phil, he had more restraint than I would have if our situation was reversed, instead of calling me a whinny little bitch he made some sympathetic noises before he asked me how fast I was driving.

"Just a little under the speed limit, so you can stop worrying grandpa I will not get in a wreck or anything." I was practically growling at him, but if he wanted to we could have avoided this entire situation by getting a family member to jump me to Seattle. I knew he had some sort of reason for making me go through this, but I was too tired to try to play the mind games that would allow me to figure out his plan.

"Can you speed up a little?" His tone sounded cajoling, but I got the impression he was hiding something.

"Stupid secretive alien," I mumbled under my breath, but it would not hurt to increase my speed a smidgeon, it would mean I could be there to see him a few more minutes sooner.

"What was that darling?" I heard Phil ask.

"Don't worry about it, so how is your day going?" I needed to think about something other than Seth lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Nothing much happened today, just some routine surgeries. Though Carlisle did have a woman patient who wanted her uterus taken out, apparently her boyfriend told he she was too fat and she thought this would make her skinnier."

"Holy crap, so did he agree to that?" Somehow I did not imagine Carlisle doing something like that.

"No of course not, the sad part is that she was already very thin. He called psychiatry to make her an appointment."

"Wow that is really crazy, I can't...oh shit." There were bright lights behind me, I looked down at the speedometer. Shit, shit, shit. I had been speeding. "Thanks for the brilliant idea, and you call yourself a psychic. A cop just caught me speeding." I told Phil as I pulled over to the side of the road. After sending one more curse at Phil I hung up on him and placed both hands on the steering wheel while I waited for the cop.

There was a tap on my window and I rolled it down, I did not see his face because he immediately blinded me with his flashlight.

"Good evening, may I see your driver's license and registration." A man's voice asked me, I tried not to gag. Wow someone had forgotten to brush their teeth after dinner.

"Do you know how fast you were going?" He asked me as I handed the stuff over to him.

I heaved a large sigh, "faster than the posted speed limit." This was going to be one of those days.

"I am surprised, no talking your way out of it?" I wished he would just give me the god damn ticket and let me be on my way.

Something broke in me and I got angry. "I have had a really bad day, some guy tried shooting at me because he thinks my little brother touched his precious little daughter - who happens to be a total slut by the way and why the hell would he touch that nasty girl. So I spent the past six hours filing a police report regarding the fact that he shot at me. Did they go look for him? No of course not, instead they interrogated me like I was the freaking criminal instead of the victim. I am hungry, cranky, and tired. All I want to do is to go home to my boyfriend so that he can comfort me." I took a deep breath the anger had dissipated leaving behind misery, I tried to blink away the tears that were starting to gather in my eyes. "Yes I was speeding, I admit it, so please give me my ticket so that I can be on my way." My attempts to keep the tears at bay failed, and I could feel them spilling out over my cheeks.

"Um I will need to check to make sure that there are no outstanding warrants in your name." He said uncomfortably, backing away. I would have laughed if I was not so miserable, what was it with guys and seeing a girl cry. Phil was the only one who had ever met that was not bothered by a little waterworks.

To my surprise the cop did not come back with my ticket, he gave me a 'warning' instead and sent me on my way reminding me to stick to the posted speed limit no matter how bad my day was. I took a few minutes to compose myself before I pulled back on the road.

I waited till I passed Shelton to call Phil back and yell at him. "I can't believe you told me to speed, I almost got a speeding ticket. I probably would have had I not started blubbering like a baby."

"Sorry about that Princess, but it had to happen." He told me in a cajoling tone.

"What the fuck do you mean it had to happen?" So I might have been yelling loud enough to be heard from a mile away at this point.

"To establish your alibi. No witness can come close to being as solid as a police officer. I needed this to be airtight." He told me in a reasonable voice.

"Grrrrr. So this was all a set up, you could have warned me about it!" Sometimes he made me so angry. Here I was worried sick about my brother, dead tired and what I got was a chastising from a police officer, at least he had not given me a ticket.

"I am sorry Princess, but I needed your reaction to be genuine. So you really broke down in front of him?"

"Yes you jerk, that had better not be laughter I hear in your voice. Why do I put up with you?"

"Because you love me and can't imagine life without me." He suggested in a helpful tone. "One more thing, can you stop at a convenience store near Olympia?"

"And why exactly would I do that? Last time I listened to your advice I ended up having a run-in with the cops."

"We need to establish another point in your alibi, after that you can call me and I will pick you up on the other side of Olympia." His tone had gone back to being cajoling.

"By pick me up do you mean I won't have to drive the conventional way anymore?" Even I was starting to be irritated by my whining.

"Of course darling, I will come to bring you home. So call me back when you get to a convenience store. I am driving home now, so I should be at the house in less than ten minutes. Drive safely, I love you."

It took me a half an hour to find a convenience store that was actually open this late on the highway, most places just had the unmanned gas stations open at this time. I finally found one with a big neon we are open twenty four hours a day sign. I did not need any gas, so I pulled up right in front of the door. I guess that was one good thing about it being close to one in the morning, I get the best parking spots. I giggled a little bit, I really needed to get some coffee if I was going to make it much longer.

"Hey," the guy behind the counter greeted me without looking up, I did not pay too much attention to him. Instead I headed for the coffee pots. Wow that stuff smelled bad, this must have been left over from yesterday and they were just keeping it warm. I decided to go find a soda instead, the sugar combined with the caffeine should help me stay awake for a little bit more.

Remembering to call Phil I pulled out my phone as I went to pull out my drink from the refrigerator against the wall. "Hi honey, did you make it home all right?"

"Yeah thanks, are you all right?" He sounded worried.

"What? No nothing is wrong, just calling from the store. Did you need me to pick anything up?" I carried my drink up to the counter, nodding at the guy who was still hiding behind some magazine.

"I need you to pick up a couple of boxes of condoms." Phil told me casually.

At first I was somewhat confused and thought I might be hearing things. We never used condoms, pregnancy was not an issue since I still did not have my period, and Phil's family was too meticulous about their health for STDs to be a problem.

"What was that you needed?" I asked confusion apparent in my voice.

"Condoms," I heard Phil's voice enunciating the word clearly.

"Why would you need more condoms?" I whispered furiously into the phone.

"Obviously because we are running low and you will need a lot of comforting after what happened today." I could hear the laughter in his voice but I chose to ignore it.

I heave a sigh, I was too tired to deal with this shit. Looking around the store while trying to figure out where they would be kept my eyes finally landed on my target.

"Can I get a couple of packs of those?" Waving in the general direction of the things, of course they had to have it behind the counter - I felt my face start to turn red. Strangely I have never bought condoms before, Sam would always take care of that. Oh well I was an adult I could buy condoms if that is what I goddam wanted to do, the guy behind the counter finally put down his riveting magazine. He looked at what I was pointing at and gave me a smirk, I felt my face get even more red.

"Don't forget to buy the magnum, you know those regular ones just won't fit." I heard Phil say over the phone, his tone was completely serious and finally it hit me. The events of the day started to crash down on me. The comment about the extra large condom just pushed me over the edge. I started to laugh hysterically, the smirk on the guy's face was replaced by confusion. He was probably wondering how crazy I was.

"Call me back when you get past Olympia." I heard Phil tell me before he hung up. It did not take me much time to get out of the store with my coke and two boxes of magnum condoms. The clerk practically shoved them at me just to get rid of me.

Fifteen minutes later I was outside the city limits, and I made my phone call. It probably was only a few minutes but it seemed like an eternity before Phil appeared in front of me, seconds later my car door was opening and he was reaching for me. Putting my arms around his neck I allowed him to lift me out of the car while I squeezed him as hard as I could without breaking anything. Closing my eyes I buried my face in his shoulder, trying to make the world around me disappear. I felt the rush of the jump and when I looked up we were in the garage of the Seattle house, my car sitting next to us.

"Everything will be alright," he whispered into my ear reminding me of what had happened last time he held me in his arms. Phil was wrong it would not be fine, I had just killed a man, someone's father.

* * *

A/N: All right girls, here is another installment. I felt kind of bad for leaving you with a cliff hanger last time. Under normal circumstance I would be personally thanking everyone for your reviews but I am getting sick and all I want to do is post this chapter before I drug myself up and crash. So thanks for all your reviews, I will answer any questions that were brought up next time around.

Have a good weekend.


	42. Apples

41- Apple Butter

There was no way to keep the tide of emotions at bay anymore, they had been beating at my defenses for hours now and had finally made enough cracks in my walls to break through. My little breakdown in front of the police officer was nothing compared to this.

"Shhh Princess just a little while longer before we are home," Phil's soft whisper in my ear would have brought comfort at any other time but there was nothing to stop it right now. The waves of guilt and remorse beat against my conscience making me question my every move for the past few hours. Maybe I should have told the police and let justice take its course? When I woke up this morning my life was nearly perfect, it make me afraid how little it took turn my life back into a tragedy.

"I love you Leah, we will get through this together," Phil continued his soothing words, reminding me that my story could not possibly be a tragedy. At least not so long as I had my prince to rescue me. I should have known from the beginning, had he not come to rescue me on his shiny bike?

I tried to thank him for always being there but words would not come, my mouth was only capable of gasping out sobs. Burying my head in his shoulder I tried to push the rest of the world away as I felt myself breaking down.

Clothing rustled as Phil moved, his long fingers gliding down my body in order to pick me and and bring me closer to him. Again there was the slight pulling and tugging feeling of the jump but I could not see where we were now, the tears in my eyes were blocking my vision.

My other senses were not quite as muted and suddenly my nose was hit with the the sharp smell of cooler air as well as the strong scent of decaying leaves. I could hear small woodland creatures scurrying busily, the sounds of human civilization were missing completely.

"Shhh I brought you to the island, let us go see how Seth is doing." He did not really need to tell me where we were, the flags around the meadow made a unique sound that I had learned to recognize.

"Seth?" in all this mess how could I have forgotten about my brother? I started to cry even harder, Phil carried me in bridal fashion all the way to the main building. I was not about to ask him to set me down on my feet, there was a small possibility that my legs would not be able to support me.

"Aurora, can you please show us to the room where Seth is." Phil asked the room as soon as we entered the main foyer of the main house.

"Please follow the lights, Seth is currently located on the third floor, fifth door to the right." The pleasant voice came from nowhere in particular making me jump in surprise and taking my mind off the problems behind me for a few moments. Phil was in motion even before she finished speaking, heading up two steps at a time. I took deep breaths, trying to control my reaction. If my little brother was awake by some miracle of alien science he did not need to see me this way. _Just __keep __it __together __for __a __little __bit __longer __Leah, __then __you __can __have __a __total __breakdown._

The ostentatious luxury of the first floor disappeared as we reached the fourth floor, reminding me that this was the hospital wing of the house. As we steeped into the quiet room I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to avoid seeing the worst. _Phil __would __have __told __me __if __things __were __truly __bad, __so __suck __it __up __Leah __and __be__a __big __girl._

I was far too much of a coward to leave Phil's arms but there was enough strength left in me to at least see how my brother was doing. The room looked familiar but I did not think it was the same one I had occupied that one time. The lights that Aurora turned on to lead us to our destination had been turned off again, so the only light in the room was from the panels on the far wall displaying various vital signs. It might have been too little for human eyes but it was enough for me to see my brother.

Seth was lying perfectly still on the bed, he was on his back with his hands peacefully at his sides. My heart clenched in pain to see him this way, my brother was never still. To my intense relief his heartbeat was back, steady and strong. Of course he was far too pale under his dark complexion, and there was something else missing. It took me a minute to realize what it actually was, the vibrant energy that usually surrounded my little brother was gone. I remember teasing him about dreaming of chasing rabbits, sometimes when he slept he looked like he was trying to run on all fours while fighting his blankets. He looked far too tranquil with his limbs completely still. There was a sheet covering everything except his head, but that did not stop my werewolf senses from being able to detect the scent of my brother's blood wafting through the room.

"He will be fine," I heard a voice from beside him, Sassy was sitting right next to him, holding his hand. She looked determined enough to never let go, her clothes were the same as the one she had worn this afternoon. As we spoke Phil's long legs moved us closer to the bed.

"Thanks for coming to meet me at the police station, it was pretty awesome how you ripped them a new one for not protecting me." The laugh I forced out did not fool anyone. Sassy did not even bother smiling at my poor attempts at humor.

"If they had just done their jobs Seth would not have been hurt," she was very angry, watching her hold Seth's hand I was amazed she had managed to leave him long enough to help me.

As Phil settled me in one of the chairs next to the bed I examined the woman in front of me. Those long fingers of hers were intwined delicately with his, as tentative as that hold may see it did not fool me. It would take a great deal of force to make her let go. It comforted me to know that there was a person out there this dedicated to my brother, the love shinning in her eyes as she looked down at him was obvious.

We stayed quietly by Seth's side for a few minutes, Phil crouched next to me holding my hand. He dextrous fingers making small soothing circles across the palm of my hand. I had nearly dozed off in the other chair next to the Seth's bed but stubbornness had made me force my eyes open once again.

"Come on Princess, let us get you home, I don't think there is enough room for both you and Seth in that bed." Phil's rumbly voice interrupted my vigil.

"Not yet," I grumbled as I rubbed my eyes trying to keep them open.

"Princess it is one in the morning, it will be less than helpful for you to pass out and smash into Seth." Phil's voice sounded very convincing especially when it was such a rumbling whisper. I could feel the exhaustion I had been fighting for the past several hours start to win. The caffeine I had drunk had not lasted long against my werewolf metabolism.

I nodded in agreement but moved a little closer and held Seth's other hand. "I am so sorry Seth, I should have pushed that bastard away quicker. Though this would not have happened if you were not stupid enough to date the rez cop's daughter." I gave a watery little giggle, Phil's arms came around my waist offering support and comfort. It should have been awkward with the chair between us but he somehow made it work.

"How could you have been so stupid, I warned you before about all this?" I whispered furiously at him hoping he would wake up and give me his goofy grin.

I started to cry again, Phil picked me up again and this time he did not listen to my half hearted request to stay next to my brother. It had started to rain, I guess this planet was not that different from Washington state. I don't know why I though it was funny but I did.

Phil gave me a strange look but he pulled me closer to him as he quickly carried me back home, the air in the house was a little stale and cool. I guess no one had been here since we had left a month or so ago. Placing me on the bed as gently as if I was made of spun glass he quickly proceeded to remove all my clothes. Certain parts of my anatomy perked up for a second but exhaustion won as he tucked the soft blankets around me.

I was half asleep when I heard him start to pull away, it was almost instinct that made me grab for his hand and pull him back. "Don't go," my voice was barely a whisper.

He seemed to understand what I needed from him. I heard his shoes drop to the ground and then the rustle of clothing before the blankets lifter. Using the last of my strength I rolled myself on top of him, my head rested on his wide chest and my leg was thrown over his large thighs. I fell asleep with the scent of citrus and sage surrounding me, my favorite smell in the world.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to the sound of the wind blowing through dry leaves, I reached over to grab Phil but encountered only cold sheets. For a moment I panicked but then I heard his unique heartbeat coming from downstairs, of course he was in the kitchen. I looked around the room, there was something wrong with the light, I quickly realized the sun's rays were coming from the wrong direction - it was not dawn but dusk, I had slept through the entire day.

Feeling sticky and dirty, my last shower being over a day ago, I headed for the bathroom. The shower helped me get rid of the last few cobwebs that had gathered around in my mind, thoroughly brushing my teeth and running a quick comb through my hair I headed moved back into the bedroom to get dressed. It was evening so it was not worth it to put on any real clothes. This was no longer Phil's suite, as time had gone on my stuff had slowly made its way across the hall into Phil's rooms. It was our room now, with the reading lamp I really liked on my side of the bed. He had even made room for my clothes in his closet.

The closet was large enough that you could get lost in, but fortunately I knew my way around the L-shaped room. Bypassing my own shirts and I picked one of Phil's long sleeve t-shirts instead. It was far to large for me, especially across the shoulders but the soft material was comforting. Fortunately Phil never seemed to mind me borrowing his clothes, in fact I was pretty sure he liked it. My stomach was grumbled furiously, reminding me of the need to get fed as I headed downstairs.

"Evening sunshine," Phil told me with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes, he did not try to disguise the worry. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I have been mentally run over by a truck." The shower might have worked out some of the cobwebs but my mind was trying to catch up with my memories. Maples waving his gun around. Seth falling the the ground filled with bullet wounds. Oh crap I had forgotten about Seth. "How is my brother?"

"He has not woken up yet, but they are keeping him sedated while we wait for his body to heal. In the meantime we will be staying on the island until he gets fully healed, it will make things easier."

I nodded as he placed the food in front of me, it might be what the English call a full breakfast. It was a good thing I did not have to worry about cholesterol with the amount of bacon, sausage, eggs and buttery biscuits that were piled on my plate. Taking a bite of the biscuit I groaned with pleasure, "marry me Phil."

Phil laughed a little, just like I intended for him to do. "Why is it that you always propose marriage to me while your mouth is full of food I cooked. I am starting to suspect that you only love me for my cooking."

"Don't worry darling, I love you for your other reasons as well." I pretended to contemplate while scooping some eggs into my mouth. "I like you ass, every time I see it I want to take a bite out of it."

"Suddenly I feel violated," he told me with a quick kiss across my lips.

I noticed the counters on the side filled with cooling pies and casseroles that looked ready to be baked. Phil tended to cook when he got stressed. "Why are you worried? What happened to Maples?"

"I am worried about how you are doing? As for Maples everything was taken care of." He gave me another soft kiss as he placed some juice next to my plate.

"What do you mean? I am fine, there is nothing wrong with me. It is Seth who got shot up." What was he worried about, I mean yeah last night I got a little teary but I was over that now. That bastard had attacked my family, like Phil had said I had done whatever necessary to protect my family.

"I am concerned about you and Maples, he is dead because of your actions. That is not something most people can just shrug off." He tried to look into my eyes, I don't know what he was searching for.

"I will be fine, what happened to him anyways?" Avoiding eye contact as I tried to push those memories back. Now that I was well rested it was easier to ignore those memories and concentrate on the food in front of me. Maybe if I smiled sweetly Phil would let me eat one of those pies, they smelled absolutely divine.

"Percy drove him to a cliff in a secluded area. At the appropriate time he threw him off the ledge, making it look like a possible suicide or accident. The fall from the cliff should disguise the damage that was done when he hit the tree and the water will wash away any trace evidence." Phil's tone was neutral and clinical, like he was giving a lecture on human anatomy, not explaining how I was going to get away with murder.

"I thought they are able to determine when he died." I might not be a medical examiner but I had seen enough TV to know they can estimate time of death, and if that window of time coincided with when Maples was arguing with me it might look kind of bad for my family.

"The easiest way to determine time of death is to check the body temperature. So if you keep the body warm, you can alter that test to suit your needs." Phil gave a causal shrug, as if this was common knowledge.

"Oh," there was nothing else I could say.

"They will put time of death sometime in the early morning hours and since you will technically have been in Seattle and your mother will have spent the night in Forks with the Police Chief both of you should have very good alibi's. When Seth is better he will got with Kendrick on that hiking trip and make sure to take the appropriate pictures with the right time print to prove that he was in another state. All the bases will be covered." I guess this was not the first time he had done this, I don't know if I should be happy or scared how easily they fixed this.

"Except for the fact that Maples is dead." All of a sudden the food that I had consumed felt a little too heavy in my stomach.

"That is what I was going to talk to you about. I set up an appointment with one of the family psychologists, you will be going to talk to him in a few hours." Phil sounded stubborn, like this was one of those things he was going to be pushy on.

"What? No way am I going to see some shrink." I did not want some stranger poking around in my head, wanting to know about shit.

"I am afraid that I will have to insist, this is standard protocol for members of the family. You do not have a choice, and you will not be allowed off the island until Uncle William gives you the ok." There was a steel in his voice that I had never heard before, I finally made eye contact with him and could see the determination in his stance.

"So what I am a prisoner here?" What was this with double standards, I know Phil had not gone through the shrink crap when he had gone on a killing spree a few months ago with those leeches.

"This is not a punishment as much as a precaution. You are a very strong girl, we want you to be calm and controlled enough so you don't lose control..."

"And kill anyone else..." I heaved a sigh, this was going to suck and as much as I wanted to throw a hissy fit I understood what Phil was doing.

"You are wrong, what happened with Maples was not a loss of control, that was gut reaction. You were protecting your family, you did exactly what you were supposed to do in the situation. The reason you need to talk to a psychologist is to ensure that your truly understand what happened and will not have a delayed reaction later on. It would be best to work this out here on the island and not among the humans."

I felt the bile rise in my throat, but I pushed it back down. Phil was right, I was having some pretty intense emotions regarding what happened just yesterday, and if gaining control meant going to talk to a shrink then that is what I was going to do.

Phil rushed over to me and wrapped me in his arms, "everything is going to be alright. Do not worry about it, we will get through this together. But I need you to listen to me, and go talk to my uncle. I have been where you are and I had to go through the exact same process. Violence is part of our lives, it is what we have to learn to live with and deal with."

"Does he have some stupid leather couch?" I asked suspiciously.

Phil laughed, I could hear it coming from somewhere deep within his chest before it came out completely. "No leather couch, I promise."

As the sun set the clouds moved in again and it began to rain really hard. I went upstairs to put on some jeans and one of my own shirts. Phil had a raincoat waiting for me when I got back downstairs, he shrugged in apology when I glared at the rain falling outside. "It is fall, we get a lot of rain at this time of the year."

"Do I have to do this alone?" We were approaching a large house, I had come to recognize the difference between the houses. They were all made of the glass and dull silver metal of course, but the houses of the older generation were a little larger and looked like they had been added onto. The house that we approached currently had a whole new wing jutting out from one side - it looked like it had been tacked onto as an afterthought and a little lopsided if you asked my opinion.

I don't know what I expected the house of a shrink to smell like, maybe old leather and books or possibly sterile like a hospital, but it was certainly not an overpowering scent of cinnamon and apples. Phil helped me hang up my raincoat on a peg next to the large door, there was a staircase in front of us but he quickly led me through an archway to our right. We entered a large room with dark wood floors, cream colored walls and what looked to be the most mismatched set of furniture and art that I had ever seen. I don't think there was any sort of theme to the place, but there was no denying the fact that this place was lived in. There were large mismatched couches surrounding a huge fireplace that had a cheery fire going despite of the fact that no one seemed to be in the room, next to it there was a sunken in pillowed area that reminded me of the style of furniture from Sassy's castle. The walls were covered with various pieces of art from classical landscapes to more modern looking stuff. There were large sculptures on pedestals as well as a strange melted looking thing that looked like it should have been a vase of some sort. I slowed down to take a closer look as we passed by it, the thing looked absolutely awful. The other art while some of it not my style was still something that could be appreciated, this thing... hell if I knew.

Phil saw me eyeing it nervously, he laughed quietly before he explained what I was looking at. "It was made by one of their grandsons, when he was three years old."

I let out a little laugh as we continued past the room, skirting the furniture.

As we walked past a set of what looked like family portraits I was surprised at the face smiling back at me. "Is that Tiffany?" I asked in a shaky voice, trying to avoid reaching our destination.

"Oh yeah, she is Uncle William's daughter." Phil nodded as he led me past the large room through another archway. I was still looking behind me at the strange collection of "art" when I ran into something. I would have fallen on my face had Phil not grabbed me. The room we entered was obviously the kitchen, the object I had tripped on was a large basketful of apples. They were everywhere, to the point where it was hard to walk across the room.

Standing in front of the stove was a very tall man, he looked over at us when Phil called out a greeting. I got the impression of long limbs and pale complexion before I was captured by the dark eyes.

All of a sudden I was falling into the darkness, those dark orbs captured my attention fully not allowing my senses to pick up any other information. I don't know how long I stood there staring into those deep eyes, but I was saved by the fact that he blinked and looked away. I closed my own eyes and slowly exhaled, I had not even been aware of the fact that my lungs had stopped working.

"It is nice to finally meet you Leah, I have heard so much about you," his voice was deep, his neutral tone contradicting his words - he did not sound like he was happy to meet with me.

"I will be back to get you in about an hour, just remember he is family and he won't hurt you," Phil murmured into my ear before leaving the same way we had come.

"Umm bye?" I wanted to beg for him not to leave me but what was I supposed to say? I am afraid that this man will drown me with his eyes alone.

"Don't worry he will be back in less than an hour, he is much more worried about leaving you with me than he lets on." The neutral tone of my shrink brought my eyes back to him. Much to my relief he was not looking at me but at the pot he was stirring, it smelled a lot like applesauce. "So tell me do you have any experience with peeling apples?"

"Uh I might not be able to cook much but Phil kind of showed me how to do the peeling bit when I was hanging out with him." I could not see where this was leading, unless he wanted me to peel apples?

"Great." He turned around and tossed something at me, it was only my werewolf reflexes that allowed me to catch what turned out to be a potato peeler. "Find a seat somewhere and start peeling."

I opened my mouth to protest, but then I realized this was a heck of a lot better than having to sit on the couch and tell him about my dreams. This was not what I expected at all, I was thinking leather couches and talking about my dreams. All of a sudden I remembered a conversation with Phil regarding dreams last fall. Trains going through tunnels, I now had learned what that meant in the dream world, sex. I let out a little giggle at the memory as I settled on one of the many stools around the large island.

We did not talk for a half an hour and I was starting to get a little nervous, was I not supposed to be talking to him? I finally cracked and asked about the apples.

"So why are we peeling all these apples?" It seemed like a neutral enough topic.

"It is apple season, and we are making apple butter. My wife absolutely adores the stuff and has managed to eat her way through every one of the jars we had." I watched as he added some more spices to the sauce he was making, nutmeg by the smell.

"My grandmother used to make that stuff, we put it on our pancakes." I blurted out for no reason, so much for keeping things impersonal and neutral, but I guess he started it by talking about his wife.

Nothing was said for a few more minutes, he was the strangest psychologist I had ever met. Finally I could not stand it any more, my curiosity about the family was never ending. "So do you eat as much as Tiff?"

It was only after the question flew out of my mouth that I realized how rude that had sounded.

"No she gets that trait from my wife, when we first met I used to cringe at the stuff my wife used to eat. My original interest was nutrition." Was it my imagination or was that a smile I heard in his voice?

I could not help but laugh, I remembered some of the more funky combinations of foods Tiffany would make for herself. "Yeah one of my friends was kind of freaking out over what Tiff was eating, I finally had to use the excuse that she might be pregnant to explain the weirder stuff."

"It is going to be a little hard to explain when she does not get the pregnant belly to go along with the appetite." I heard a small chuckle coming from his direction. This should not be too bad, he had a sense of humor and so long as I did not look into those hypnotic eyes everything would be fine.

"Yeah? But by then I can probably use the excuse that she is eating because she is depressed having lost the baby." Losing baby, Jill Maples was pregnant and now she had lost her father. A huge wave of guilt hit me all of a sudden and the half peeled apple tumbled from my hand and rolled across the floor. Remorse filled me and it was not because I had dropped the piece of fruit.

Uncle William noticed my change in mood. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"Um no, not really?" It came out more of a question but he just nodded and turned back to stirring the large pots of boiling apple sauce. I sat there thinking about what had happened, here I was peeling freaking apples while Jill lost her father. I pushed that thought back and quickly went to retrieve my lost apple.

My shrink could have been reading my mind or he was just that good, but he did not try to talk the rest of the time while I continued to peel apples.

Despite the fact that Uncle WIlliam did not ask me anymore questions I felt a little better when Phil came to get me. I don't know why I felt more normal, maybe because I could just sit there in silence and not have to do anything but peel apples. Maybe it was just relief that I was not placed on a leather couch and scrutinized under a microscope.

I saw my escape route, the archway would mean freedom but the path was winding because I had to avoid all those apples. Placing the potato peeler next to the bowl of peeled apples I hurried towards the door as Phil said goodnight to his uncle. I needed to get out of here before Uncle William could change his mind and make me lay down on a couch.

My escape was not fast enough, "see you tomorrow," Uncle WIlliam told me before I could completely leave the room. I silently cursed my bad luck but it did not come as a surprise, peeling apples seemed like a little too easy.

Seth was still sedated when we went to check on him, this time it was Kendrick holding his hand, "Sassy went to eat something and take a shower," he explained when I gave him a curious look.

We did not stay long with Seth, he was looking much better than he had yesterday. Several IV bags were providing him with food and water so that he could be further along with his recovery when they finally allowed him to wake up.

"They will probably keep him sedated a few more days, that way he will have mostly healed. Gun shot wounds kind of hurt." Kendrick cringed as he explained, probably having been shot before.

Kendrick turned down my offer to stay with Seth, "don't worry, I have some reading to do. I can do it here as easily as I could do it at home." It was interesting to watch how much Kendrick actually cared about my little brother, again I thanked my lucky stars that Seth had imprinted on a woman who could appreciate him. It seemed that with Sassy, Seth had gained the family that would love him as well.

Phil and I did not stay long, soon we were slowly walking back to the house, "what do we do now?" I needed to find something to do so that I would stop thinking about what had happened yesterday. I almost asked Phil to take me back to peel some more apples with Uncle William - well almost.

Phil found something far more pleasant to occupy me, we snuggled in front of the fireplace in the sunroom on the top floor. I watched the stars that were peaking out from between the clouds while he told me about his childhood - it was a good way to distract me from the reality that was waiting for me once we left the island.

I actually woke up on time the next day, my psychic boyfriend having anticipated this had made my appointment a little earlier with his uncle. So here I was again, peeling apples again. If it was not for the rows of jars filled with apple butter cooling on the shelf I would have sworn that we had gone back in time. Today there were even more baskets of apples, at this rate we would never get through them all.

Uncle William of course noticed my look of horror as I looked around the kitchen, "don't worry my son and daughter in law will be coming by later today. They will help finish."

This time I stayed for over two hours, at times it felt like he was only really using me as slave labor but it was worth the price so long as I did not have to lay down on a couch.

This time he did not act as emotionless and he was more than willing to chat about various things. I was happy to avoid the topic of having killed someone, in a way being on the island helped me push those emotions away. Here nothing could hurt me, except for the cramps in my hand from peeling all those apples. Uncle William told me about his grandchildren, how his son was the only one of his three children married. He told me about his wife and about their rough courtship.

"She was the prettiest thing I had ever seen, the only problem was that she was untouchable. Alway cool and controlled, and I was the half breed son of a prominent politician and a pretty actress. For the longest time people told me my mother was not good enough for my father and I could never come close to being the man that he was. So I spent a great many years proving them right."

"Your father is in politics?" I started wondering about his pedigree, with this family it seemed most people had royal blood of some sort.

"Oh yes, and I was the rebel boy that fell in hate on sight with this perfection of womanhood." His smile was muted but then so were most of his emotions. His description of being a rebel did not fit well with the image I had of him.

"Sometimes following the rules just gets you fucked over," even I could hear the bitterness in my voice. I had tried to do the right thing with the Sam the golden boy and he had done nothing but hurt me. Suddenly realizing that this was too close to what would constitute talking about my feeling I switched subjects, "so did you finally live up to your father's expectations?"

"Does it really matter?" Came the very shrink-like response.

"It is hard to lose a parent, and if I don't do this right my mother might not die but she would have to be essentially cut out of my life." If I wanted to keep my mother around there would have to be a way to explain my actions.

"What is the worst case scenario?" Again, what was with these questions. This was starting to be a lot less fun.

"I don't really know. Not talking to me ever again, I guess?" My mother would bluster and grumble but she would never abandon me or anything. I hope.

He tasted a little bit of the hot sauce cooking in the pot, seemingly abandoning the conversation.

"Could you give me a hand over here?" Pulling some empty jars out of the oven he placed them on the counter, these were pre-warmed so that we could fill with them with the newly finished apple butter.

For a few minutes we were busy concentrating on putting the hot sauce into the jars to talk but my reprieve was far too short. As soon as the lids were on the jars he looked at me again with those dark eyes, in a way it reminded me of the black eyes of a hungry vampire. Uncle William did not want your blood, instead he wanted you to bare your soul which was almost worse than trying to kill you. It did not matter that I did not want to talk about my feelings, those eyes would make me.

Swallowing quickly I tried to defend what I had just said.

"I mean my mother won't stop talking to me, but she will not stop asking question." I retreated back to my pile of apples that still needed to be peeled.

"So what? Is she going to hold a gun to your head until you tell her everything?" He spoke as if it was that simple.

I gave the back of his head a dirty look, yeah it would be that simple. "Obviously you have never met my mother."

"I take it she is as stubborn as you are?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"It is not funny, what am I going to do?" I whined at him, hoping that he would solve my problem.

"You are an adult, you can choose not to answer her questions. Normally when we do encounter humans that get too curious we just cut off all ties with them. It is usually the best way to go."

Shock ran through my body, is that what would happen? I would have to let go of my mom? I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off before anything came out of my mouth.

"Legally and financially she cannot do anything to you. Since you are over eighteen she really cannot touch you with the law and since you are not dependent on her for money that cannot be used against you." He made these observations in a quiet voice, his tone devoid of any emotion.

I guess she could be given the same ultimatum as Charlie, back off or lose your daughter. Though in my mother's case it would eventually involve both her children, as sweet as Seth was when it came down to it there would be no contest between his mother and his mate. Sassy would win every time, just like I could never leave Phil.

Heaving a sigh of relief for coming up with a tentative plan as to how to deal with my mother I settled down to finish chopping up some apples.

"Now about this Maples person," Uncle William said in that neutral tone again.

The quick change of topic along with the name of the man I had killed surprised me, the knife slipped in my hand and cut a large slice in my palm. "Fuck."

"Hmmm, you might want to put a towel on that or something, you don't want to get blood all over those apples." He sounded more concerned about the food than he did my hand.

It seemed yesterday he was being nice, and today he had taken off the kid gloves and we would discuss every 'issue' without even a break in between.

"Nothing about him, he was shooting my little brother so I pushed him away." I shrugged my shoulders dismissing him. I did the right thing, I protected my family. That is all I had to tell myself. _Except __you __helped __destroy __another __family __in __the __process._

"So your little brother's life is more important then that of this Maples?" He asked while starting to fill up the pot with more chopped apples and sugar.

"He attacked my little brother, I was just protecting my family." I ground out starting to get angry.

"And you did what exactly in reaction to this assault on your little brother." His cool tone only made my anger worse.

"I pushed that fucker away," I yelled at him, my anger getting the better of me.

"It was an effective way to protect your brother," he pointed out.

My anger disappeared almost as soon as it had come under his cool gaze. "I wish I had not used my full strength, I just wanted to push him away."

"You reacted with little thought at the time," he continued his neutral observations.

"Yeah well there was little time to think, and I just wish I would have not used my full strength." That was my one regret, the one thing that I had wished to do differently. The front door opened and closed, the sound of Phil's funny heartbeat started moving toward me. My prince was here and he had perfect timing, not even Uncle William's see you tomorrow could bring me down.

The rest of the week proceeded in the same way. I would wake up, do some things around the house with Phil. Then I would head to be tortured by Uncle Willliam. After I got through peeling all those apples, I was given the task of shelling bags of nuts. According to Uncle William his wife really liked walnut brittle so we ended up making batches and batches of that as well. That was followed by starting on the making of the fruitcake, which apparently his wife liked as well. I was starting to suspect that his wife was a lot like me, in that there was pretty much nothing by way of food that she disliked - I kept this opinion to myself.

It took me a few days to realize that I was talking to him a lot more than I had actually intended. I was too stubborn to admit this, even to myself, but it was nice having him listen. His tone was always neutral, never judgmental - he was logical to an almost brutal degree. Unlike Phil he did not tell me that I had no other choice but to kill Maples, he asked me for other possible solutions to the situation. I listed all the ways that Seth and I could have dealt with Maples coming to our house. We could have called the family or the police. We could have just grabbed mom and ran out the backdoor.

"You seem to have a thing for not confronting people." I pointed out as I made my list on afternoon.

"Violence is the absolute last resort for our kind, before we do that we have to pursue every other avenue. You are young and you seem to think that your only strength is well ...strength. Over the years you will learn to asses the situation and find other ways of dealing with it." It was kind of disturbing how he was using the death of a man as a learning experience.

Seth was healing very nicely so the doctors slowly backed off the sedation. He woke up on the third day and he was deemed well enough to leave the medical wing of the main house by the fifth day. Bee did not want him to leave the island for a few more days after that so that we could make sure Seth was completely healed.

The last two days on the island were so much fun, I almost felt guilty; but as Uncle William pointed out, we make mistakes, learn from then and life goes on. Seth was allowed to shift and he ended up following me around the entire day while I showed him some of my favorite spots around Phil's house.

_I __am __so __glad __that __you __imprinted __on __Sassy, __I __would __have __missed __you._I had brought him to one of my favorite places, I had many happy memories around this lake. The only problem was that they usually involved a very naked Phil, I was trying to keep those memories from surfacing.

_Now __you __will __never __get __rid __of __me_. He was only half paying attention to me, he was too busy trying to hunt down a plump rabbit. There were a lot of them around, there must have been plenty of food for them this summer so their population had skyrocketed.

_I __hope __you __enjoyed __eating __Thumper_. It still grossed me out, eating "naturally".

_You __know __sometimes __I __forget __you __are __a __girl __but __then __you __get __all __weird __and __squeamish __about __something __like __that. __I __am __going __to __miss __the __island._ Seth's thoughts moved to Sassy. She had been a lot more attentive towards Seth, rarely leaving his side in the past week. I was amazed that she was not with us now, but she probably figured there was not much that could happen to us on the well guarded island. Seth was enjoying the attention of his mate, she was being very indulgent right now. She had even promised to take him to her planet and show him her castle soon. _I __am __surprised __she __has __given __in __and __is __taking __you __to __her __planet._

_Why? __Sassy __pretty __much __gives __me __anything __I __want __so __long __as __it __is __not __her __body._ All of a sudden I was hit with all sorts of fantasies involving Seth and Sassy.

_Ewwww __please, __some __of __that __stuff __is __not __possible. _Someone needed to get my brother some good porn so that he could figure out what actually was supposed to happen during sex.

_ How __am __I __to __know __what it is __supposed __to __be __like?__Embry __swears __I __will __be __like __a __fifty __year __old __virgin __before __Sassy __puts __me __out __of __my __misery._ There was a slightly petulant tone to Seth's thoughts. _I __have __the __responsibilities __of __an __adult, __why __can't __I __have __the __privileges? __For __example __the __love __of __a __beautiful __woman._

_She __does __love __you_, I could recall the look on Sassy's face when she picked up Seth's shot up body. No one could deny the fact that she loved him, that she would do anything to protect him.

_ I know she loves me, but I want her to love me like a man...not like a child. I might only be fifteen in years but I am far older in experience. Hell I helped scare off a vampire army._

_You __did __not __do __that __much, __all __you __did __was __stand __there __and __look __tough._ I tried to tease Seth but in reality I could see his point.

_I __might __be __too __immature __in __some __people's __eyes, __but __at __the __same __time __I __know __exactly __what __I __want. __Sassy __is __not __some __girl __I __want __to __'do', __she __is __the __woman __I __want __to __spend __eternity __with. __She __is __my __mate, __and __I __am __hers; __the __more __I __learn __about __her __the __more __I __love __her. __Why __do __I __have __to __wait __to __show __physical __love? __You __know __I __have __only __ever __hugged __her, __I __have __never __even __kissed __her. __She __might __be __able __to __hide __behind __that __mask __of __humor __when __I __try __to __flirt __with __her, __but __she __can't __hide __the __fact __that __her __heart __starts __racing __whenever __I __come __too __close __to __her. _From the sounds of it Seth had spent a lot of time thinking about this, but it really was not my place to listen to this.

_Uhhh __Seth, __you __should __probably __leave __this __talk __for __your __best __friend __and __not __your __sister_. I really do not want to be picturing you and Sassy together. I could not encourage my little brother to go for it and seduce some woman, there was just something inherently wrong with that.

_ But __that __is __just __it, __who __am __I __supposed __to __talk __to? __Jake __and __Quil __are __mated __to __children __and __Embry __is __bound __to __a __guy. __How __are __they __supposed __to __relate? __You __are __the __only __one __who __is __mated __to __someone __who __you __can __actually __have __sex __with. _Seth started to chase down another rabbit, but I could tell he would not be distracted from this topic.

_Why __don't __you __talk __to __like __umm...__Kendrick...yeah __he __would __be __a __perfect __person __to __talk __to __about __this. __And __he __is __a __GUY __and __not __your __SISTER __which __makes __it __even __more __perfect._

_I __have __talked __to __Kendrick __about __it, __he __tells __me __to __give __it __time. __But __I __don't __want __time, __I __want __to __goddamn __kiss __my __mate. __Is __that __too __much __to __ask __for? __I __am __not __asking __her __to __go __all __the __way, __just __one __little __measly __kiss. _And off he went into several fantasies, imagining what it would be like to kiss Sassy. He was using his past experience of kissing Jill but fortunately for me he had not gotten very far with her either.

I thought of the way Phil kissed me this morning before I had left with, I could not even compare kissing Sam to kissing Phil; it was like a whole different experience. Even an innocent press closed lips against lips was far weightier when it came to mates, there was no way to describe the feeling until you experienced it.

_ Well __that __certainly __wants __me __to __wait __to __kiss __Sassy...not_. Seth grumbled even in his thoughts.

It was strange to hear this much discontent coming from my usually even tempered little brother but I guess sexual frustration could bother the most laid back people. I could not believe that I was using the words sexual frustrations and my brother in the same sentence. I guess it is time to head home, Phil is probably waiting for me.

_Yeah, __and __what __are __you __to __going __to __do? __Play __monopoly?_ I was amazed that he was not displaying any jealousy in his thoughts, just determination. Maybe I should warn Sassy about my brother's plans to seduce her, but she was a psychic she would figure it out on her own.

I left Seth at Kendrick's doorstep since my brother was bunking at his house, I did not go in since I had not brought any clothes with me. While heading home I decided to take a quick shower before hunting down Phil for some serious play time. Trying to suppress all the memories of what Phil and I had done on the lakeshore had only brought them to the surface. I wanted to re-enact some of those memories again.

"How was your day?" Phil wrapped a towel and his arms around me as soon as I stepped out from under the warm spray of the shower.

"Good, but now it is going to get better." I told him with a leer, I wiggled out of his arms and 'accidentally' dropped my towel as I ran for the bedroom. I was a wolf, so not drying off properly after a shower was not going to bother me. I almost made it to the bed before Phil tackled me, he made sure we landed on the soft surface of our bed before he started to kiss his way down my still damp chest. He was fully clothed but I would soon solve that little problem.

"So what did you do today?" His casual tone would have been a little more effective if it was not for the fact that I could feel the large erection pushing against my thighs through the fabric of his pants.

"My brother is frustrated that he cannot get to first base with Sassy." I tried to mimic his neutral tone of voice.

"Hmm, Princess, that was a rhetorical question, maybe it would be best not to discuss your ..." I did not let him finish his sentence, I had other plans for that tongue of his. So I quickly pulled his face up to mine and kissed him. I would worry about my brother another time, for now I was going to enjoy Phil's dextrous fingers which were slowly working their way up the inside of my thighs.

* * *

We went back to Earth and reality, Seth and Kendrick went to California so that they could stick to the hiking story. They found Maples' body on Friday afternoon, almost exactly twenty four hours after I had killed him. I was glad about my talks with Uncle William, it helped me remain calm and controlled when the Rez police called to tell me they had found his body. Sassy was good enough to convince them to take my statement over the phone, thanks to my speeding ticket and the condom incident at the store I had a very solid alibi.

Jill Maples did not look good when I saw her at her father's funeral. Her face puffed up and splotchy from crying, she was almost not recognizable in the oversized black dress she was wearing. She was standing alone and away from her mother, I would have thought that they would have been together at a time like this.

"She told her mother the truth," Sassy whispered in a voice so low it was meant for my ears only.

"Wow that must have taken guts," I have to say I was impressed. But at the same time it would have been more impressive had she told the truth before she had driven her father to the brink of insanity.

"What was more amazing was your mother. She lit a fire under everyone's ass. The community is going out of their way to try to help the Maples family. It seems Mrs Maples finally understand what it means to be part of this community, too bad it took the death of her husband." Sassy explained quietly as we walked to stand beside my mother and Seth.

The minister started to go through the words of the funeral, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I tried to block out his words, they brought up too many memories of my father's funeral. Instead I concentrated on what had happened since we got back from the island.

My mother had been a problem, and still was regarding all this mess but she kept her mouth shut. For now she was happy to have Seth back safe, this bought us some time before she would begin to question what had happened. Seth and I had agreed that we would tell her nothing - it would be safest that way. I would not lie to my mother about what happened that afternoon but I could not give her an explanation, she would just have to live with the fact that there were some questions that would never be answered. As much as it pained us, my brother and I were willing to give her an ultimatum if necessary: stop asking questions, or you will lose us. It might have been harsh but it was necessary, by now my mother should know that there were some secrets best not shared. Phil had agreed to let us deal with my mother on our own, but he offered Seth a place to stay if he needed to get out of the house.

"I have been thinking that it might be best to add a couple more bedrooms to the house." He told me as I had gotten dressed for the funeral this morning.

"You know you just had it built." I replied while combing out my hair.

"Yeah but form the looks of it we might have your entire pack of wolves come stay with us."

That actually did not sound like a bad plan. Jake was having to do some summer school to make up for the classes he had failed due to all his absences last fall, and would soon be graduating. Quil and Embry were planning on heading to Seattle as well, there was something about interacting with the family members that seemed to have made the members of my pack realize there was a whole world outside of the Rez and we were all wanting to explore it. Phil had offered up his house and the boys had accepted, it would make things easier considering there was a convenient forest right next to it where you could run in wolf form to your heart's content. I had learned the hard way that living with humans was not that easy for a wolf, no more dorm rooms for me.

Life went on, as much as I regretted what had happened to Maples I could not regret trying to protect my family. Soon I would be starting summer school, there were no more false accusation by ex-girlfriends, or psycho vampires trying to kidnap me. My family was safe, my boyfriend was hot, and life was pretty much good.

* * *

A/N: All right girls this is the last chapter, only the epilogue left. If enough people want it I will try add a chapter of Phil's point of view after the epilogue. It is kind of fun doing him, though he is somewhat scary and perverted. Feeling a lot better now. Sorry for those of you who had to read this chapter before I fixed the formatting, sometimes Fanfic does the weirdest thing with the stuff I upload.

AbarbieStory: Loved your reviews and it was nice that they were late, it encouraged me to get past a really hard part of my story. Glad you like Blossom, she is kind of fun.

Rocklesson86: Glad you like the story, it is always nice to get encouragement.

MargotTenser: Glad you liked what happened to Sam, I am kind of mean to the boy. If you only knew what Phil actually wanted to do to him. :D Thanks for the awesome review, glad you love the story.

Jada91: I voted to Blossom's option number 2 as well but Leah was being nice.

Ms Animegoddess: Glad you liked Blossom, she is kind of funny as well. Sam is well, he is someone who should be pitied, he really never was a good leader. Too bad he shifted first.

AHS186: I feel kind of bad for what happened to Jill but this is one of the consequences.

Connect2jb: Glad you liked, one more and then this is finished.

Twilighter: It is hard for Leah not to compare the two, what can I say Sam just keeps coming up short. Or maybe fate knew what it was doing when it put Leah and Phil together. :D

Jaimee2772: Yeah some days I slack off when trying to do writing. Thanks for the review, feeling much better.

Inosolan: Yeah it is somewhat bothersome that Phil knew what to do, but damage control is part of his job and training as a member of the family.


	43. Epilogue

Epilogue - Defense

_Five years later_

The auditorium was quickly filling up with people, the more people entered the large room the more butterflies sprung up in my stomach. _Damn, __I __should __have __reserved __a __smaller __room._

The worst part of this whole scenario was that the one person I really needed to be here was currently absent. Phil of course was nowhere to be seen, there had been a bad fire last night where several people go severely burned - Phil had been called in at two o'clock in the morning and I had not been able to sleep ever since then.

"You are going to do great Miss Clearwater," Dr. Gardner patted my hand in an attempt to reassure me. "You already have done all the hard work, now it is time to show it off."

"We are really proud of you, don't worry about it Leah. I know you will do great." My mother chimed in happily. Chief Swan was standing next to her trying to stay in the background, my mother had finally married him last year. She really did not have much of a choice, Seth and I would not stop harassing her about 'living in sin' and being a poor example to her children. We were actually joking, trying to mess with her but she had taken it to heart and had married Chief Swan in a small civil ceremony. So technically I now had a stepsister, Bella, who just happened to be a vampire. It was a good thing I had gotten over the 'leeches have ruined my life' thing a while back or things might have gotten ugly during family get-togethers.

I would like to say the years had been good to my mother but that was not the case, much to my dismay she was getting older. The lines in her face were multiplying as well as getting deeper, but I guess that is what happens to humans as time goes by. It was wrong of me to be happy that Chief Swan had a heart attack scare a few months back but it was better for everyone involved. My mother and Charlie had started to show more interest in their diets and were now eating much healthier.

Many a free weekend had been spent going up to the Rez to see my mother, but unfortunately being an adult came with a lot of responsibilities so I did not get to see her as often as I would like. It did not help that Phil would lure me away to the island as often as he could, I could not pinpoint the exact moment it had happened but sometime in the past five years Phil's house had become our home. Slowly but surely I was starting leave my mark on the place, and by mark I mean more than just leaving my bras hanging on the shower curtain rod. Our moonlight garden had flourished over the years, expanding out. It was my very favorite place in the world, especially when I could sit there in Phil's arms just looking at the stars in the sky while getting drunk on the intoxicating fragrance of roses and jasmine. Phil would wrap his arms around me while occasionally pointing out constellations. He would tell me stories about them, it took me a while to figure out that he was just pulling it out of his ass - he had the audacity to point to the same group of stars and call it the tiger as opposed to the bear he had named it the week before. Sometimes he would still tell me the stories, he did not need to know that I had written some of them down - something to tell our children on day?

I took a deep breath, coming back to Earth and wishing I was anywhere but here - hell at this point I was almost hoping another newborn army popped up in the middle of Seattle.

To distract myself from the stress I looked over the crowd that was gathering, waiting for me to speak. It had taken me three and a half years to get my bachelor's degree, double majoring in history and communication. The past two years had been spent finishing up my masters degree in History, and that is why I was here today. I had to defend my research in a public forum, it was not a controversial topic by any means since all I was doing was comparing the stories of various native american tribes. It would be nice to say that this was a great epiphany of mine, recording the stories of my people, but that would have been a lie.

I had stumbled upon this idea early on in my education when Doctor Gardner, my advisor, had taken me to see one of the tribes he was interviewing. He had thought that the people might be more willing to speak to someone of their own race, and he was right. People opened up to me about their history and traditions in a way they would never have to an old souther man - with all due respect to Doctor Gardner. That is where it had began and from there on out it got bigger and bigger until there was enough information to compare and contrast the different stories. Part of the reason I chose to continue on and get my masters was the people I had encountered, some of these stories had been handed down for countless generations and their willingness to share it with me was flattering but more than that it gave me a sense of responsibility. Most of the stories were handed down in the oral tradition, this was the first time that many of these stories had been put down on paper; it was disappointing when I only got fragments of stories, but the younger generation was not always interested in the old ways and some things had already been lost - had I not left my home to pursue other dreams?

A lot of the people I interviewed had been invited to my thesis defense, and this was making me extremely nervous. My problem was not the fact that I was speaking in front of all these people, one of my majors was in Communication, I could talk in front of a crowd - I was afraid that something I said would insult them. I could just see one of them stand up in the middle of my presentation and tell me that I got a story wrong.

Staring at the people in the crowd was not helping me get over my nervousness, so I looked for a familiar face. Seth caught my eye and gave me a huge smile, he was standing next to Sassy but that was not an unusual sight these days. They might be able to fool the rest of the world, but I knew there was some hanky panky going on. I did not dwell on the thought of what they did behind closed doors too long, but I was glad that my brother had found her.

My fear that Seth would be steamrolled by the force of Sassy's character was unfounded, my laid back little brother could give as good as he got when it came to dealing with Sassy - instead of being overshadowed by Sassy, Seth had began to shine with his own light. He had joined us three years ago at the University of Washington, having graduated a year early from high school. At first he had a hard time adjusting, but now he was quite the man on campus - he had recently been elected Junior Senator. It was kind of funny, Phil had teased him about the fact that he had the woman vote, and in a way Phil was right. The werewolf genes which gave him the muscular body combined with the fact that he did not date made him irresistible to the the ladies - at times I was tempted to tell them that he was already taken, but it was too much fun watching Seth blushing with embarrassment as he politely tried to tell a girl no he did not want to go out for coffee. He was always polite, that was one thing he had learned from Sassy - never lose your cool, and he did it almost as well as she did. It was strange to watch the blending of their personalities, as Sassy mellowed out a little and Seth became more goal oriented. He was planning on going to law school after this, followed by a possible career in politics. Five years ago I would have laughed at anyone suggested that my little brother was going to be a lawyer, but now that did not seem that much of a stretch.

The strangest part of it was how differently people treated Seth as opposed to Jake, Quil, and Embry. While the other three's size seemed to instill fear and caution into most people, Seth had a completely different effect. It was almost like people seemed to sense how freaking nice and understanding Seth really was, that was one thing that had not changed over the years.

Speaking of Jake, he was sitting in the very front row, his signature smile on his face. He had surprised everyone when he decided to do engineering, we all expected him to end up fixing up cars in some mechanic's shop. Jake was doing surprisingly well in his chosen field of study, Embry had actually lost a hundred dollars to Quil when he bet that Jake would flunk out the first semester. I think it helped that there were several family members that were more than willing to help him figure things out, but it was pretty amazing what he could accomplish when he actually put some effort into it. Though to be honest it could have been that he did not have to spend as much time worrying about Bella. Nessie was being raised on the island, it had been decided that would be the best course of action for her. Her accelerated growth rate combined with the ever present danger of the Volturi made it so that it would be best if she was not on this planet anymore. Only rarely would she be brought back to Earth in order to go to the mall so that she could learn to interact with her peers, the thought of Nessie hanging out in the mall would have made Edward break out in hives had it been possible.

Embry and Quil had finished their bachelors degrees last year, Embry had spent the past year being a bum and traveling with Stefi - yeah he finally figured out his mate was a girl, the expression on his face was priceless. Quil had used his brand new kinesiology degree and went back to the Rez where he was the PE instructor. He could not stand to be away from Claire too long. She was now a typical eight year old - pissed because she was not allowed to wear the tinted lip gloss and much to the dismay of Quil totally in love with some pre-pubescent singer that in my opinion looked more like a girl than a guy. Phil had reassured me that she would eventually grow up, that was when the family would offer to make her one of us. That way we could keep our small pack together.

Speaking of packs, I would probably not have been able to recognize Sam had he not been sitting next to Emily. I had not seen him in nearly a year and he had changed drastically. They were sitting close to the back of the place but that might be so that they could easily slip outside if Anne, their three year old was going to make a fuss. If Emily's belly size was any indication then their next child would be making its appearance sooner then later. According to Jake Sam had stopped shifting a few years back, he was the first one of the pack that was able to maintain enough control to do so - I know that Jared had considered it but someone older needed to stay in charge of the pack, and I don't think anyone wanted to leave Paul as the alpha. I looked back at Sam and could not help but smirk, apparently Emily's cooking had been very good to him. Maybe he should lay off the fried chicken now that he no longer had the werewolf metabolism, he had put on a few pounds. I would like to say that Emily resembled a bloated whale, but pregnancy became her - she was practically radiant with it.

I was no longer bothered by the whole other people pregnant thing, my periods came back about a year after I moved in with Phil. They were not regular by any means, but they did occur every once in a while. It was actually Phil who first figure out I was fertile again, it had been a very interesting way to find out too.

_ It had happened on a rainy Saturday morning, Phil of course was nowhere to be seen when I woke up. I was not worried, he would be back after he checked on his patients, that would mean I had plenty of time to take a nice long hot shower. It was pleasant to have some alone time, especially since I had to do some personal grooming. Werewolf hair tended to grow a little faster than humans, I was considering taking Phila's suggestion to just wax everything._

_I __waited __until __my __skin __was __starting __to __get __all __wrinkled __before __I __finally __turned __off __the __water, __I __could __hear __the __others __around __the __house __as __well __as __the __boys __from __my __pack __running __around __outside __sounding __like __they __were __playing __rugby __again._

_"You __are __such __a __cheater, __you __Leech." __I __heard __Embry __complain __followed __by __Emmett __Cullen's __easily __recognizable __laugh. __I __guess __the __vampires __had __joined __in __on __the __game __- __there __was __a __lot __less __tension __between __the __wolves __and __vampires __these __days, __especially __since __the __wolves __of __this __pack __no __longer __resented __the __vampires __for __making __us __what __we __were. __Jake __had __let __go __of __that __when __he __imprinted __on __Nessie, __and __I __had __finally __let __go __when __I __realized __that __I __would __probably __not __have __Phil __in __my __life __if __it __was __not __for __them. __Though __I __should __not __underestimate __Phil's __tenacity, __I __would __have __ended __up __with __him __no __matter __what._

_I __headed __to __the __bedroom, __completely __naked, __it __was __not __like __anyone __was __going __to __come __into __Phil __and __my __suite __without __knocking __- __Quil __had __learned __the __hard __way __how __important __it __was __to __knock __when __he __walked __in __on __Phil __bending __me __over __the __small __couch __in __our __sitting __room. __Needless __to __say __from __that __day __on __my __pack __learned __to __knock __and __wait __for __an __answer _before _entering._

_"Hi __honey," __Phil __said __from __the __doorway __as __I __sat __on __the __bed __applying __lotion __to __all __my __freshly __shaven __bits. __The __same __parts __that __Phil __was __eyeing __with __a __great __deal __of __interest._

_"Morning __Phil," __I __gave __him __my __best __seductive __glance, __but __I __did __not __have __to __work __that __hard __considering __I __was __sitting __naked __rubbing __myself __on __a __bed. __Ok __so __I __may __have __already __applied __enough __lotion __to __that __place __but __you __could __never __be __too __moisturized._

_"Do __you __need __help __with __that?" __Phil __asked, __his __voice __getting __deeper __and __I __could __see __his __eyes __dilating. __He __did __not __wait __for __an __answer __as __he __sauntered __over __to __me, __giving __me __a __cocky __grin. __He __was __only __a __couple __of __feet __from __me __when __his __nostrils __flared __like __he __smelled __something __and __then__disappeared __only __to __appear __a __second __later __on __top __of __me. __I __was __surprised __for __only __a __second __before __his __mouth __came __crashing __down __on __mine, __and __I __lost __my __train __of __thought. __Usually __he __was __not __this __forceful __but __I __quickly __complied __as __he __tried __to __pry __my __lips __apart __with __his __tongue._

_"You __smell __so __good,"__it __took __him __a __while __before __he __came __up __for __breath, __he __spoke __in __a __voice __so __deep __I __almost __did __not __recognize __it._

_"Do __you __like __my __new __lotion?"__I __asked __a s__he __kissed __his __way __down __my __neck._

_"No __it __is __not __lotion __that __I __smell__... it __smells __like __you __are..." __he __pulled __away __from __me __as __if __trying __to __figure __something __out. __I __was __kind __of __annoyed __that __he __had __interrupted __the __make __out __session. __I __tried __pulling __his __head __a __little __closer __to __mine, __but __when __he __did __not __comply __I __attacked __the __buttons __on __his __shirt __instead. __I __was __kissing __my __way __down his__chest __as __I __slowly __exposed __it __when __I __heard __him __gasp._

_"What?"_

_That __was __when __he __went __totally __crazy __and __attacked __me __again __with a __great __deal __of __zeal, __it __took __me __a__while __to __get __a __straight __answer __out __of __him __- __apparently __when __I __ovulated __I __smelled __really __good __to __him. __Good __thing __he was __on __some __weird __alien __version __of __birth __control __because __we __sure __as __hell __would __have __been __getting __pregnant __that __day. __Phil __really, __really __liked __the __way __I __smelled __when __I __was __ovulating._

_Two __weeks __later __I __got __my __period, __and __we __found __out __that __the __werewolf __version __of __PMS __was __worse __than __the __human __version __- __I __might __have __punched __a __hole __in __the __kitchen __wall __when __Phil __annoyed __me. _

I smiled at the memory, I was no longer afraid not being able to get pregnant. It would happen eventually thought it might take a while, but I had plenty of time before I would worry about that. If I did not royally screw up today then according to the plan I would be graduating in a little over a month, then I had until December to plan a wedding. Technically I was probably not going to have that much input, considering Alice was totally beside herself with wanting to plan it - and it was freaking hard to say no to her when she said please like that. Aunt Katie was on board for the second ceremony, the one that would happen on the island in front of the entire family. As much as I hated the thought of having to get through not one but two wedding ceremonies there was one good thing that came of it, Alice and Aunt Katie could plan separate event. I was fairly certain violence would have ensued had they both been planning the same wedding. I don't know why I was letting a vampire plan my wedding, maybe it was because I did not care that much anymore. At one point I cared a great deal about that sort of crap but I had come to realize that while the actual wedding day was just one day, the marriage was the one that lasted an eternity - plus it was really hard to say no to Alice. At least she had asked for permission first, Aunt Katie just told me that she was planning my wedding and I would show up at the appropriate times and be happy about it.

After the wedding Phil and I would go on our extended honeymoon, aka I would go through the final round of genetic modifications, some of them had already been done - it did not have to be done all at once, so Stefi had started on some of them. After the final round of my alteration I would be expected to live on the island until I learned to control my new powers - I had been told that mind reading can be overwhelming and it would be in my best interest to be around people who could block me. I would also be taught the jumping technique, this was something to look forward to since I hated having to constantly rely on other people to take me places.

I looked at the time on my phone, it was five minutes until showtime and Phil was still not here. Grrrr while I appreciated the fact that he was a doctor that helped people I really wished he would not constantly be on call.

"Don't worry Leah, he will be here shortly, I know he would not miss this." Bella tried to reassure me. She and Edward were the only ones here today, the rest of the Cullen family had decided to stay away so that the smell would not bother me. Bella had come to support her "sister" as she now called me, I swear she did it just to annoy me - it did not bother me as much as it used to. She was a nice person, for a leech, and I could understand what she had done in order to stay with Edward. Hell I was doing nearly the same thing to stay with Phil.

I was ready to give up on him when he finally showed up smelling of disinfectants and my favorite citrus and sage scent - I smiled up into his face, which had a few wrinkles surrounding his pale green eyes. Phil had started to add a glamour to modify his appearance, he was supposed to be over forty now. I don't think he could look that old with clothes alone when his body was closer to twenty five in maturity.

"Hi Princess, sorry I am late, I brought you a present." He told me with a smile.

I looked at the styrofoam cup, there was a lid on it so I did not know what was inside. "Thanks?" I told him wondering what was wrong with him. I could not eat anything right now, unless I wanted to see it again in a few minutes - usually Phil was a little more in tune with my emotions.

He pulled the lid off to show me what was inside. "A strawberry milkshake?" I asked finally identifying the sweet concoction.

"With a cherry on top," there was an expectant tone to his voice. I had no idea what he was trying to tell me.

"I hate maraschino cherries," I told him completely confused now, but then something clicked. My memories took me back to a cold and rainy day in September nearly six years ago, the day when I first met Phil. The first words he spoke to me had been about the cherry I was trying to kill in my strawberry milkshake.

Doctor Gardner was signaling me trying to encourage me to join him at the front of the room. My father used to eat the cherries on top of my milkshakes, that was why I had asked for one that day in the diner, so that I could feel like my father was still with me. But there was no way that Phil would know about that unless the bastard had been reading my mind that day. I looked up into his innocent looking green eyes and glared.

"A toast to your daddy, I am sure he would have been very proud of you." So he had been invading my privacy that day.

I looked at the cherry sitting on a glob of whipped cream, at times like these I really missed my father. Phil was right, he would have been very proud of all that I had accomplished. My glare disappeared and I took a deep breath before I reached for the cherry and pulled it out by the stem before plopping it into my mouth.

I made a face, the cherry still tasted as nasty as I remembered them from when I was a kid but I quickly gulped down some of the milkshake to wash away the taste.

I smiled into those light green eyes, the butterflies in my stomach were starting to settle down. "We are all really proud of you today. Now go get them Princess." The jerk turned me around and pushed me towards the front of the room before he slapped my ass like I was headed for a football game or something. I looked over my shoulder at him as I walked down to the front, my eyes told him that there would be hell to pay for that little stunt.

_Bring __it __on_, he mouthed at me as he crossed his arms across his chest and tried to look tough. I turned back to the front so that he would not see the smile on my face, two could play this game. Best of all no matter what happened I would still win, because we would be together.

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A/N: All right girls, that is it. Leah's happily ever after. The one that SM did not give to us. Thanks everyone for your encouragement and for putting up with my rewrite. From now on I promise that no matter what I will not take this story away from you again.

Smooches, in a completely heterosexual kind of way, to everyone. Thanks for all your reviews, it was always so exciting to open my email and see what you girls though about Phil and Leah. Sometimes I could not help but laugh out loud at the comments which made it kind of hard to explain when I was technically supposed to be reading scientific papers.

I am working on Phil's point of view, I should have something posted in a few days time. It will just be a few thousand words so I will just tack it onto this story. Though I have to limit myself and make sure I don't take it past that, especially since scenes from Phil's point of view keep popping up in my head. I really don't have time for that, Seth's story need to be finished first.

Thanks you Connect2jb for re-reading this :D and posting encouragement along the way.

Jada91 if you read my other story The Edge you might see if Sassy actually smooches Seth.

Jaime2772, yes finishing this should free me up for The Edge, but that might be slow going considering the holidays and other pesky real life stuff.

Ms Animegoddess thanks for the awesome reviews, it was always fun to read your comments.

Inosolan thanks for your funny reviews, it is always fun to open email and open those emails.

Twilighter: Good times, yes, yes you slavedriver I will get on Seth...umm I mean I will write his story.

A Barbie Story: Hope you are doing good, and thanks for the awesome reviews.


	44. Restelessness

This is Dreaming of Dawn but Phil's version of the story. I hope you like.

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1 - Restlessness

"So my friend was like oh my god I can't believe you got to meet..." the personification of a modern woman sat next to me and continued her monologue, so long as I nodded in her direction every few minutes she did not notice that my attention was elsewhere. I was beginning to doubt my hearing, were women seriously this shallow?

My feet started to tap with impatience while I calculated out how much longer this event would last, pulling out my phone and using the tablecloth as a cover I checked the time. Hmmmm, two minutes since the previous occasion that I had peeked.

I don't know what it was about charity events that made them so tedious and boring, maybe a small fire would liven things up a bit. It would not take much effort on my part, a mere thought with a bit of concentration would generate a flame across the room. No need to set a person on fire, there were plenty of other targets for my current pyromaniac tendencies. In my mind ribbons of orange and bright yellow started to assemble into a tight ball getting ready to burst out into reality. At nearly two thousand years of age I was far too old to be pulling juvenile pranks like that. Though the entire ballroom was set up with a sprinkler system, the fire would not go far.

"Oh wow look at that," my date gasped next to me.

Two tables down the candles had somehow tipped setting fire to the elaborate centerpiece. A waiter quickly poured some water on the flame. "Looks like someone was smart and put it out. No need to worry about it... Sylvia." I hope she did not notice me pausing to search for her name. Women tended to get very angry when you did not remember their names. It was not entirely my fault, there had been a great number of women in my life and most relationships tended to be brief.

_Get__it__together__Phil__and__concentrate_, I mentally slapped myself. No more fantasizing about setting this place on fire. Good thing no one suspected the real reason that the small fire started. I searched within myself, Aodh was feeling somewhat smug and that was never a good sign. My distraction had allowed it to take control of my powers and start that small fire. I did not understand what it hoped to accomplish with this trick, fortunately Aodh tended to be more mischievous rather than destructive. That was not always the case but I quickly shoved those memories away.

Over fifty generations ago my ancestors found themselves in an extraordinary situation, suddenly some started sharing their minds with another entity. They called it The Great Spirit, mine was named Aodh or it had really like the name when we stumbled across it a few centuries ago. My grandmother who counted her age in millennia instead of years had not encountered another people who were possessed like this. She did not have the spirit, it had come to me from her husband whose people had a reputation of carrying spirits. I think part of the reason she married him was so that her children could potentially be more powerful due to the spirit.

For those of us who had the spirit symptoms began to appear in the toddler years, it only happened for the children whose blood was "strong" enough to support a spirit. I was close to four when it started for me and even though it has been nearly two thousand years I could still remember the fear and confusion that came with the strange pictures flickering in front of me.

The pictures could be those of an event that occurred in the past, the future or another planet - there were times when it was impossible to tell which of those three the spirit was trying to show you. That was the power my grandmother wanted to add to her bloodline, the ability to predict the future. She had survived battles that would have easily destroyed a lesser woman, and she wanted her children to have as many advantages as possible. She trained everyone who came into the family whether by birth, adoption or marriage and she made sure that we had the best possible chance of survival.

Nothing was free in this world and being able to see the future came with a price, one of which were the devastating headaches that would makes us go blind with the pain. Since there was not a physical reason for the headache no conventional medicine worked, all you could do was crawl into a dark hole and wait it out. That was one of the worse things but there were other annoyances, from my grandmother I had inherited a plethora of mental powers: mind reading, telekinesis, the ability to bend space-time to name a few. These powers were usually strictly under my control, unless I was not paying attention and then Aodh would jump in and use them for its own needs.

Sharing my head with Aodh was normal for me, there had never been a time when it was not there but usually we had similar enough goals that we got along fine. As part of my training to become a guardian I had learned to comprehend what Aodh wanted to do and learned to curtail some of its more violent tendencies. When our minds first blended it would start fires and throw things when it did not get its way. Currently my usual ability to read Aodh was failing, nothing I did seemed to be able to appeases it.

To prove my point the silverware on the table in front of me started to move slowly, the knife sliding slowly across the white linens. _Stop __it._ My mental hiss halted the silverware's motion but Aodh had just used the stunt to get my attention. The tablecloth in front of me blurred and was replaced by a row of green trees. This was a common theme to my visions these days, but since there were a lot of trees in the world, especially in the Pacific Northwest there was nothing I could do about it but wait for Aodh to give me more details. It showed me the same picture but this time there was something brown weaving in and out of the trees, the shape was too hazy to recognize. _What __the __fuck __do __you __want?_ I screamed at it mentally, not that it helped, it just kept showing me the same incomprehensible image. Over and over again like a broken record, I suspected Aodh had deemed this very important but there were not enough clues for me to go on. It was not able to form words, so the only way it could communicate were images and scenes.

Ignoring the useless picture in my head I concentrated and focused my vision on the reality in front of me. Sylvia was a pretty woman, some would call her beautiful but she did nothing for me. Donna was an excellent nurse and while she might know when a situation calls for absorbable versus non-absorbable suture she knew nothing about my taste in women. I had made the mistake of mentioning that I did not have a date to the hospital fund raiser, next thing I knew she had convinced me to go on a blind date with this girl that was just 'perfect' for me.

Granted Sylvia was just the type of girl that I tended to date these days, but she was by no means anything even close to being my ideal woman. Her professionally highlighted hair was as straight as a pin but my keen eyesight picked up some serious split ends indicating a great deal of time spent in the bathroom with a straightening iron. Her dramatic green eyes were pretty but had a yellow circle around the outside where the tinted contact lenses went past the border of her irises. The skin on her face was without lines or blemishes, but that was because of the wast amounts of makeup and botox. Her nose was not her own but the creation of one of my colleagues. Hopefully she did not pay too much for that nose job since it was slightly off balance, had one of my students done such piss poor work I would have failed them. Her eyes had been worked on as well though I cannot comprehend why a girl near thirty would possibly need to have her eyelids fixed. I began to wonder if there was anything authentic about the woman sitting next to me. More important than her lack of genuine looks was the suspicion that she had nothing going for her when it came to the brains department either.

I was not normal by any caliber, in fact by some standards I would not be considered a human. The closest tie I had to this planet was the fact that my grandmother was born here; my father's side of the family and my mother's father were all born and raised on other planets. My little brother who looked a lot less human usually did not even bother coming to Earth, though he had been back here to study the Neanderthals. In a way he was studying our father's ancestors, technically speaking we were not descendants of Homo Sapiens. Add to that being genetically modified by aliens and we did not exactly fit into the normal category. We tended to be stronger, faster, and have better senses so we did not always play well with other.

I touched the thin circle of braided string that was tied around my wrist, entwined with the filaments of cotton were a few strands of dark hair, Siboniso had been a real woman. The small token was a reminder of both of the woman and what happened when I made the mistake of involving my feelings. She had been the last one that I had actually tried with, the ones after her had been nothing but a place to stick my dick when I got tired of masturbating.

Because of our unique abilities and therefore the secrets we kept it was impossible to be completely open with humans so the family was generally self reliant in most things. You could find a willing partner amongst the family to do just about anything. Ariel for motorcycles, Uncle William for cooking, Blossom was the party girl, Phila was into everything that involved water and Kendrick was good if you wanted to play cowboy. The one thing the island could not provide was a wife, I had to leave behind the planet of my birth and cloak my true self as I searched for her amongst the planets occupied by humans.

I was not very finicky when it came to choosing women, unfortunately the spirit with which I shared a consciousness was very particular about the women in my life. That was one of the blessings or curses of having the spirit. According to family tradition only one woman would satisfy the very stringent criteria of the Spirit; honestly I did not think it actually had a criteria so much as it was looking for a specific girl. It was a very jealous creature and if it thought I was getting too close to a woman it would make sure to sabotage the relationship. Only this one special woman would be tolerated for a lifetime, sadly I had yet to meet this paragon. In my youth I had wasted plenty of nights imagining my perfect woman. Would she be gentle and sweet, or fierce and strong? Would she be a tall amazon, a petite little thing or somewhere in between? I dreamed of all the things we could do together, all the places I wanted to show her. I had been very impatient and more than ready to meet her, as the years had passed my enthusiasm wained until it was replaced by a sliver of fear. What if I never met the woman, would I spend the rest of my immortal life in limbo?

Having lived for two millennia meant that I have met women that were breathtakingly beautiful, remarkably witty, or a dangerous combination of both but none had sparked the interest of the Spirit. At best Aodh was indifferent to these extraordinary women, sometimes when it deemed that I was getting too attached to anyone it would lash out and hurt them. Once I had been released from my training I had spent a great deal of time and effort trying to locate my mate. She would be the one person that would magically be the perfect partner for the rest of our immortal life. For males with the Spirit the binding to your mate is supposed to be instantaneous upon meeting them - see your mate and wham you are bound to them. I had been waiting for this moment for nearly all my life and that was a great many years.

There had been times when I could do nothing but scream at the sky because of the unfairness of it all, Siboniso had been an amazing woman and yet the spark had never happened. I stayed with her a little longer than I should have, hoping that the spirit was wrong because I was sure she was the one. Aodh had responded by pushing her down a set of stairs and breaking her neck, after that I gave up. I no longer actively looked for my mate, I let fate take its course. I also changed the type of woman I took to bed, what did it matter if they were intelligent or beautiful? The Spirit would not allow me to spend more than a few weeks in their company and then the sabotage would begin. So I switched to women I knew there was no way in hell I could ever care about, the shallow foolish ones. The ones I felt no guilt over using and discarding, the ones that I could leave without looking back. A better person might have given celibacy a try but that was not my deal, I enjoyed the female body far too much to give up on it. Soft skin and rounded curves were not something I would live without, especially since I did not know when I would meet my mate.

This was the reason Donna thought that Sylvia was my ideal wife, the women I have dated since coming to LA had been of the vapid slutty variety.

"I will be right back I have to go use the ladies room," said woman interrupted my mental grumblings as she moved to stand. I quickly got out of my own chair and slid her chair out so that she could stand more easily.

Due to her very tight black dress everyone in the room could tell that she was not wearing panties. Unfortunately I could also tell that she had implants in her ass, seriously was there any part of this woman that was the real thing?

She thanked me for the gesture with fluttering eyelashes, did she think that worked outside of the movies? I returned her smile with a fake one of my own, it was a gesture I had perfected over the years. I could look my worst enemy in the eye and grin from ear to ear - all the while plotting to kill him.

By the time my date returned to the table dinner had already been served, they called it Chicken Marsala but clearly they did not know what that was. I had perfected this recipe centuries ago and clearly from the looks of things the chef who had prepared this had a few more years to go before he got it right.

"This is pretty good," Peter told me as he cut into the rubbery looking piece of meat covered in some sort of congealed sauce. I had politely waited for my date to return before starting my meal. Manners were something of the past, I stood again to help Sylvia get back in her seat.

"Hmm I don't know if this is on my diet," Sylvia murmured demurely as she picked up her fork and poked the soggy looking noodles in what should have been white sauce that accompanied the chicken.

"I don't think this is on anyone's diet. Except maybe Peter's." I looked over at him. "Seriously you are no longer a resident, you should learn that not all food put in front of you is edible." So I happened to be somewhat of a food snob, cooking was one of my few passions. I enjoyed it almost as much as trying to kill myself on motorcycles, it could not be helped. Most of my family tended to be speed demons, but at least Aodh would warn me before I hit anything.

"Hey not everyone here can afford their own personal chef," Peter replied with a huff.

"Oh my friend Carol knows the personal chef to..." Sylvia added her two cents to the conversation. I never understood this need to know about the personal lives of celebrities. I for one had to avoid certain movies because of the actor; currently anything with Tom Cruise was now out of the question. It was hard to get into the movie when all I could think was that man though he was the messiah that would protect us from the when aliens attacked the earth.

"Seriously she only eats turnip greens on Tuesdays?" Peter appeared impressed with this knowledge while I tried to stifle a yawn.

"Oh yeah you should know what Oprah does..." Sylvia continued now that she had an enthusiastic audience. I was mistaken on my initial assessment of this woman, it was wrong to put her in the stupid category. She was actually quiet intelligent, too bad she chose to use her mind to remember gossip. She was also adept at directing the conversation, anytime we moved away from discussing the personal habits of her favorite celebrity Sylvia would move us back on topic. Peter finally realized his meal was getting cold and quickly dug into his food, I considered offering my plate to him just to keep him from encouraging Sylvia to talk.

As the meal progressed I began to wonder about the woman sitting next to me, surely she is just saying what she thinks we want to hear. Her mind could not be this shallow, could it? It did not take much effort on my part to slip into her mind, though generally we avoided doing such things since it was considered rude to rummage around in other people's thoughts.

_She __is __kind __of __ugly, __my __ass __is __much __nicer __than __hers. __I __wonder __if __I __need __another __boob __job __Joanna __seems __to __think __so __but __what __the __hell __does __that __skank __know __about __anything_?

Apparently her internal monologue was worse than what came out of her mouth. My dick was currently giving me a mutinous look trying to ask me if I really intended to stick him into that woman. I was answering him with a resounding no. Guess it is just you, me and Rosie Palms this evening. Something that had been happening with increasing frequency of late, pasting on my fake smile I pretended to pay attention to my date counting down the minutes before it would be polite to leave.

* * *

As much as I would have liked to leave early it was close to midnight before I pulled up to my house. Sylvia was on her way home and I did not regret letting her go for even a minute.

As I got out of the car another vision hit me, I did not break my stride while heading for the door. I had learned over the years how to operate blind so getting from my car to the side door was easy even if a vision was blocking my view of the garage. For a minute I was frustrated at Aodh for sending me yet another nebulous vision but it soon became clear that it was being helpful at this moment.

Settling my briefcase on the stand next to the kitchen counter I pulled out my phone and called Phila.

"Hey girl what are you wearing?" I asked by way of greeting.

"Fuck you, you cock sucking bastard." She yelled at me, this was not her usual reply so I knew there was something wrong.

"As much as I would like to sit here and analyze your sweet salutation I have a reason for calling. Your boy Harper might want to leave the frat party he is currently attending, it seems like someone called the cops." My vision of the police coming in and arresting all the underage drinker was clear.

"Wait he should not be at the party, excellent," her mood did a one eighty. It looked like I would not have to do much analyzing it was clear that Harper attending the party had put her in a foul mood. Phila might be playing the role of teacher-student with her mate but that did not mean she enjoyed the though of him going out and hooking up with some girl.

"I will let you come up with some method of extricating him from the party." I hung up without saying goodbye so that she could call and save her boy.

After a quick shower I put on some pajama bottoms before settling in to do some dictations, fortunately Aurora would be able to turn everything into the appropriate format without me having to type it all up. I then spent several hours on the TV trying to find anything to watch, needless to say when my phone rang around three am I was a little too excited.

"Nelson," I barked into the phone, it was always best to pretend to be pissed at being 'woken' up in the middle of the night.

"Seriously Phillip what kind of a hello is that?" My grandmother tried to sound stern but it came out amused instead.

"It is early in the morning here," I told her by way of explanation.

"So what is that supposed to mean?" she sounded somewhat confused, Bee did not spend that much time around humans anymore so she tended to forget what they were like.

"Humans need six to nine hours of sleep per day," I reminded her with a smile.

"Why the hell would they waste their time sleeping? There are so many other fun things to do at night, such as sex."

"Is there any particular reason you called?" Trying to politely steer the conversation away from the sex topic.

"Speaking of sex, have you been getting any? Your mother sad you are having a hard time picking up women right now." Bee was the poster child for stubborn and I might as well go along with it because she would change topics when she damn well wanted to talk about something else.

"No Grandmother, I have not been having sex." I rolled my eyes, I was willing to bet humans did not have to have these conversations. Her reason for asking these kind of questions were understandable, when under a great deal of stress sex drive tended to disappear first. It was a way to see if an intervention was necessary. My need for sex had not dissipated, my dick had just suddenly decided to follow Aodh's example and become very picky.

"Your mother said something along those lines, but don't worry dear if things get really bad I know this girl that for a price..."

"Thank you for the offer but I am capable of acquiring my own prostitute." I interrupted before she could continue, knowing Bee if I did not nip this in the bud right now there would soon be a call girl knocking on my door. Not that I had anything against working girls, but my housekeeping might be slightly upset.

"Hmm if you change your mind there is this italian girl who supposedly can pick up a ping pong ball with her..."

"Yeah because it probably has teeth," I laughed at her attempts to entice me. Bee was abnormal to say the least but easily understandable if you knew her primary motivation. Survival. She had spent every minute of her youth fighting to survive, and she was determined to see that her family would survive. If I was distracted by the fact that I was having a hard time getting sex that would make me vulnerable. Some might question her morals when she was so willing to hire a woman for sex but Bee did not give a shit about such things. Every rule would be broken if it was necessary for the family's continued existence, this had been drilled into me from birth.

"Hmm that would be interesting to see, I might just have to hire her myself. Or maybe I can wait until Sassy marries that boy she is bound to."

"Is he not somewhere around twelve years old? I think you might have to wait a few years before you need to worry about a bachelor party." We had all laughed our asses off when we found out that serious Sassy had found her mate in a child. Phila sent her a diaper bag with bottles, diapers and monogramed burp cloths. For a moment I had been worried that Sassy would finally lose her temper and kick Phila's ass but she managed to reign herself in.

The boy Seth was somewhat interesting, a remnant of an ancient experiment. One that allowed the humans to shape shift into giant wolves, the genes are only activated when in the vicinity of blood drinkers for prolonged periods of time. This small tribe that lived by the Pacific Ocean seemed to have maintained the gene. I guess inbreeding has its advantages at times.

"Speaking of Sassy I need you to go and take over watching the area around Seattle." Luckily Bee deemed this the perfect time to switch topics away from hiring a woman of the night.

"Why can't Sassy and Kendrick handle it? They have been in charge of the place for a while now." I know they had been avoiding the public eye there since Sassy was worried about being spotted by Seth, since he was a shape shifter he would imprint on her on sight. She was trying to give him a few more years to be a child before he imprinted on her. Since Sassy was female her spirit did not bind her as tightly to her mate, they usually had to develop a relationship before the binding process completed. She could spend the next few years in the periphery of the boy's life, the only reason she was keeping such a close eye on him was because of the chaos that had descended on the region.

"Trouble will be coming to the area soon, Sassy saw something bad happening. The Volturi are going to be little whiny bitches about this Carlisle person having too many gifted vampires, we might have to intervene. These Volturi were a good idea a couple of millennia ago but they are starting to outlive their usefulness." There had been talk for the past few centuries about cleaning house in that small fortress in Italy. Bee, Mari, and Peter had been the ones that put them in charge of keeping the vampire world secret from the humans. Either the Volturi were starting to be careless or the world was becoming a smaller place, regardless of the cause it was beginning to look like we needed a new set of rulers to keep the vampire population in check.

"Are you thinking of replacing the Volturi with Carlisle Cullen?" He was an interesting blood drinker, not only had he abstained from drinking human blood but he had managed to convince his family members to follow the same path. These blood drinkers while not as controlled as their leader still attempted to follow his ways of survival. "His family is now up to seven additional members, not including a new hybrid child. On top of that several of them have powers. Mind reading, empathy and the ability to see the future."

"It would be fun to see if he could grab power from the Volturi but Sassy was suggesting that he is not really interested in raw power. His idealism could be used as an example to others, the man really does do as he preaches." Bee's voice became speculative as she tried to figure out Carlisle. "We need to test them, his entire family in fact to see how they react under pressure. If they pass we will give them our protection."

"Last Spring a newborn army of blood drinkers came to destroy them and not only did they stand their ground but they formed a tentative alliance with the shape shifting wolves of the region." That bond had been strengthened when Jake imprinted of the young hybrid. Another reason that Sassy had not introduced herself to Seth was the fact that wolves could not keep secrets, at least not with the pack mind.

"Keep our presence a secret for now," Bee's voice was pleasant but the underlying command was obvious.

"Of course ma'am." Two things had been drilled into me from birth: protect the family and our secrets at all costs.

"From what Sassy was telling me it will require for them to call in a lot of friends, the power of the Cullen family will become obvious not only to themselves but the vampire community. It will help with the downfall of the Volturi." Bee was thinking of strategies as we went along, but I agreed with her. The Cullen family knowing their own capabilities would be beneficial.

Bee did not say goodbye as she hung up on me, I looked around and sighed. The conversation had taken less than ten minutes, it would look odd if I showed up at the hospital any earlier than five-thirty. Unlike the humans I did not need much sleep, a few hours a week were sufficient. This came in handy most times but not when I was alone and just this restless. As of late I could not seem to settle down, nothing could hold my interest for any length of time. As a man who was used to concentrating for hours on end it was starting to be a little frustrating. A run might be helpful right about now, it might cut down on all this restless energy. I did not want to bother Phila again, especially if she was unable to keep Harper out of jail. Picking up my phone I quickly found the right number. My brother picked up almost immediately.

"Hey big brother what are you doing?" Caller ID made things simpler.

"Nothing much, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a run?" I tried to keep my voice calm and smooth, it was best not to indicate to others just how stressed out I was over this.

"Trying to outrun your troubles big brother?" He asked in a teasing tone.

"Seriously does everyone just sitting around and gossip?" Was there anyone in the family that did not know.

"Mom thinks your Spirit is cock blocking you." He told me with a laugh.

"Do you want to come for a run or not?" It would be easy enough to pick a fight with him, nothing helped with frustration as much as slamming steel against steel in an all out fight.

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a wad. Meet me up at Uthu rock in half an hour."

I was already regretting asking for his company, in the end he would probably rile me up even more. My brother Myles was somewhat of a trickster and liked nothing more than harassing people.

The air at home was much cooler than in Los Angeles despite the fact that it was summer in both places. It was not until I got past the ribbons in the meadow that I realized a major flaw in my plan to outrun the pesky visions that had been bothering me for the past few months. Trees, I was surrounded by trees.

Aodh immediately hit me with a vision of trees, and I growled in response. _I __don__'__t __understand._ Only one thing was clear, the trees surrounding me were not the one Aodh wanted.

* * *

A/N: All right girls here is the first part of Phil's point of view. What do you guys think?

Thanks for all the lovely reviews at the end of Breaking dawn.

Please forgive Phil if he is a meanie he is getting kind of frustrated right now. And he does not have his favorite outlet of sex.


	45. Fallin out of Trees

2 - Falling out of trees

"So how did you date go? Did you not just love her?" Donna asked as I added a few Steri -strips to the small incision on the underside of the patient's left breast. The right one was already closed and my resident was currently busy cleaning it before putting some light dressing on the sutures.

"Get all the iodine off or it will itch like crazy," the surgical nurse ordered while watching my resident with a stern eye. Sometimes the nurses taught the residents more then us faculty, though she did not really have to bother with Brian. He was one of the brighter ones amongst my minions. I tended to quickly weed out the ones that were not up to my standards, which gave me the reputation of being somewhat of an asshole but it also meant that the truly gifted ones wanted to work under me. I never had that much patience when it came to fools.

"Hey Doc don't ignore me, I know you are a smart boy and can multitask." Donna continued her post date interview. "Tell me about your date."

"She seemed nice, if a little enamored with the lives of celebrities." I tried to be polite since Sylvia was one of Donna's friends. I would have been more forthright had we been alone but with a roomful of nurses, techs, and the anesthesiologist it would have been crass to tell the truth. "She and Peter seemed to hit it off really well."

My comment made her pause for a minute or it could have been that she realized that she needed to do her job. "Peter? Which one? Please don't tell me it was Buckingham because that guy is a moron."

Donna started it so who was I to deny her my opinion. "Of course he is an idiot, but that does not mean he could not be potential ex-husband number, what is Sylvia up to now?"

My temper had improved a great deal from last night. My extra energy had been burned off not by the run with my brother but by the fist I planted in his face after he pushed to hard. After we knocked each other around for a while we had breakfast together. Nothing like a good brawl and food to make a man feel better, it was almost as good as a good fuck. Not that I would know, I had been going solo for several months now.

"She must really like you because she usually does not tell people this soon that she is divorced." Donna seemed impressed.

"A woman in her early thirties that seems to have a lot of work done without any visible means of supporting herself? Usually that means either a trust fund or alimony. Trust fund kids tend to be more destructive in their spending of the money so I guessed there was an ex-husband somewhere that is paying her bills." I looked up at my nurse, her face looked startled even behind the mask. Most days she underestimated my intelligence, this was not entirely her fault - it was easier to take someone down if they did not know the full extent of your capabilities. Not that I had anything against my nurse, Bee had just trained me to assess all situations. When I entered a room a part of my brain always analyzed the other people in the room and made a rough plan as to the easiest way to subdue everyone. Only on the Island would I ever truly let my guards down, everywhere else I was always prepared to massacre every person around me. The surgical tech would be easy, there were several scalpels next to her that could be used to easily cut her throat. While I used my left hand to do that it would be next to nothing to smash my elbow into Brian's throat, with enough force his the cartilage of his trachea would break causing his airway to collapse. The next move would be a swift kick to Donna's head, she would never see it coming. The anesthesiologist was sitting down so his attempts to run for it would be useless, the patient on the table would just never wake up. All in all it would take less than a minute to kill everyone in the room. It would take a little more effort if I wanted to cover up my actions. Pushing my morbid plans to the back of my mind I supervised Brian adding the Steri-strips to his side.

Donna did not have to answer my question since the anesthesiologist started to blast his music; we all were serenaded by Lady Gaga as we finished up. It was somewhat amusing to wake the patients up to her singing about her poker face. The paralyzing agents we used to relax the patient's muscles during surgery meant that they would not be able to show an expression for a while.

"Stay with her until she wakes up," I warned my resident as I pulled off my sterile gown and threw it in the trash.

"Yes Doctor Nelson, would you like me to order the post op labs or will you be putting them in." He at least knew the drill but I guess he did not want to have another 'chat' like we had to last time. It was my fault that he did not understand how to treat the private patients, this was not the local free clinic. These patients expected the best and that is what they were going to get.

My office in the hospital was smaller than I was used to but since I split my time between this smaller private hospital and a county hospital the chief of staff did not feel it necessary to give me a bigger place. Sitting behind my desk I quickly logged into the medical website to check on my patients at the other hospital. Noticing a nasty trend I quickly called my chief resident and had him personally take the patient down to dialysis.

"This is not a joking matter, I can't get there until late this afternoon and I need this done two hours ago. You will push the bed down to nephrology as soon as possible." This was one of my burn patients and you did not mess around with an increased BUN and creatinine, we would replace their kidneys until the patient healed a little more. I had to change clothes since I had clinic in the afternoon, and that would be followed by another night of doing dictations, surfing the TV for something to watch. I might change up the plans for a bit if the new edition of JAMA came out, then I would be reading a medical journal for a few hours before heading back to channel surfing. My research was currently at a standstill since the MD/PhD student I normally worked with was gone to Brazil for a few months of research. I had other students working for me but he was the only one I trusted to get things done so I had put my samples on minus 80 and shut down the lab. I could have done the work myself but since I was leaving in a few weeks it would have been foolish to start something with no one to take care of my cells.

My life went pretty much along this pattern, and it would continue along these lines for the next week, and the week after that. This was the glamourous life of a plastic surgeon; at least this was the thrilling life of an immortal warrior playing at being a plastic surgeon for a while.

The last day of August would change this routine, I was taking five months off from my practice. It was something I normally did, take off a few months and did whatever caught my interest. Several colleagues had pointed out that this was not the best method for advancing my career but obtaining the title of Chief of Staff at some posh hospital was not something that I needed. I would probably spend time in the Middle East donating my services as a surgeon, that was usually a great way to break up the monotony. It also helped that in some places the chance of the procedure being interrupted by armed men was very high, it always made it fun when you got to throw a scalpel at someone who burst into your medical tent. When you live long enough you learn to appreciate chaos, though I preferred controlled chaos more than anything else. Especially if I was the one stirring up the trouble.

Donna was in charge of my clinic and would orient the new doctor that I had hired to take care of my patients while I travelled the world. "Seriously, how am I supposed to break in another doctor?" She grumbled during the last week of work.

"Oh I am sure you will do great, and it is not like you have to do surgery with the man. All you have to do is make sure he does not piss off anyone that is coming in for a post op checkup. And you can always go help out Gerald." I gave her an innocent smile.

Gerald was one of the partners in the large private clinic that I was a part of, Donna absolutely loathed the man. The feeling was mutual but I had never bothered to figure out the reason, my best guess would have been that they slept together. Which was a foolish thing to do, you did not fuck a nurse as competent as Donna.

August thirty first saw me finishing up my last surgery, it took a little longer than usual since we had to do a lot of on my patients nose. He was of Asian descent and wanted to make his eyes look more white; I did not judge, I just did what they paid me to do.

"So long suckers," I told Donna as she followed me through the double doors of the surgical wing.

"Rub it in why don't you?" Donna did not seem amused.

"What is this? Are you missing me already?" I gave her a playful shove. "Don't worry I will only be a phone call away."

"Shut up you overgrown little boy," she gave me a small smile that quickly turned into a scowl. "So where are you going?"

"Seattle, my best friend is up there." Thanks to Sassy's paranoia regarding her mate I had been politely ordered by my grandmother to head to the Seattle region and watch over Seth. Nothing could be as stimulating as baby-sitting a pre-pubescent wolf; though I guess with the wolf genes activated his body would have been forced through puberty before it went through the change.

_If __that __boy __is __getting __any __action __I __am __going __to __kick __his __ass._ Seriously I could not figure out my problem, I was not a total pig and had in the past gone for years without sex with a woman. For some reason at this point I could not seem to completely relax using my alternative outlets. Even yoga was only doing so much for me right now, mother might get upset if I beat up Myles on a regular basis.

It took me two weeks to find my way to the cabin Sassy had built when she had first imprinted on her little boy. It was a comfortable place as houses went along, but most of our property tended to be that way. We worked hard for a reason, so what if we liked the finer things in life? We deserved it, plus it was our money. The theme of the architecture and the furnishing was definitely oriental but Sassy had always been drawn to that continent. My mother's people and hence Sassy's tended to be about the well being of the group, if you reduced the poverty rate by one percent it was a major accomplishment. This was funny because my father's people valued individual accomplishment as opposed to the entire tribe doing well; they were more of a 'it is all about me' kind of people. Americans tended to be more like my father's people and therefore were a little too self-centered for Sassy's liking.

"Thank you for coming so early," Sassy told me as she passed me some hot tea. I was glad she had not whipped out with the traditional tea bowls, those were so small I could finish them in two gulps. Sassy of course was well versed in the Way of tea, or the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Fortunately we were not doing that today, since I did not currently have the patience to sit still for several hours.

"Several new boys had joined the pack as a reaction to the large influx of vampires that had come to the region last Spring. Leah Clearwater, Seth's sister still has the distinction of being the only female that shifter." Kendrick gave me an updated report of the situation.

"Leah, poor girl is not having a good time of it. She is still very upset over the fact that not only did her boyfriend of several years break up with her but he did it because he imprinted on her cousin." Sassy added in a quiet voice while passing me a plate filled with sandwiches.

"Hmmm, these are good. Is that some sort of pepper chutney?" I asked around a mouthful of food.

"Yes I used habanero chili peppers mixed in with some bell peppers. It complements the Shiitake mushrooms." Kendrick told me as he ate one of his sandwiches in three bites. Of course the food would not include meat since both Sassy and Kendrick were vegetarian.

"Please send me the recipe, I think I might have to try to make this for myself." Personally I liked to eat meat but that did not mean I would say no to great tasting food.

"Another new development is the fact that the pack of wolves split. Jake got angry with what Sam the alpha wanted to do and somehow created a new pack." Sassy brought us back on task.

"Jake was the one who imprinted on the new hybrid and Sam was the one who used to be Leah's boyfriend." I nodded in her direction telling her what I knew so that she would not waste her time repeating herself.

"Yes and the best part is that Seth and Leah joined Jake, so that reduces the risk of exposure for our family." Sassy always put family first, no matter what it cost. We could not help ourselves it is the way we were raised.

"You need to watch over baby Seth to make sure he does not fall off a cliff or get bitten by a blood drinker or something. Things are going to be relatively calm until mid December, we will return by then." Kendrick continued his partner's explanation. In some ways partners in the family were almost like married couples, well all except the sex. We tended to live together and follow each other around, Phila would have been with me in LA had she not met her mate. As it was I was thinking of leaving LA behind for Seattle, there were several good hospitals here as well as a teaching hospital that was well known for putting out solid research. It would not take vast amounts of effort to move my practice here, though I would be leaving behind the glamour of playing the plastic surgeon from LA. _Yeah __that __would __be __a __big __loss, __not._

"You can stay in the cabin if you wish, that way you can be closer to the region." Sassy offered politely. Distance did not really matter for us, not when you considered our ability to jump.

I would have turned her down if it was not for the big shiny kitchen staring at me. While Phila's apartment was nice, it did not have the space to accommodate such a large kitchen. "I might have to take you up on your offer, though I might be adding a few small appliances to those bare counters."

"Please be careful to avoid the pack, their senses are better than ours." Kendrick gave me a friendly warning. We had gone over this last Spring, it was easy enough to accomplish with alien technology. The was an undershirt of sorts that could block the sounds of your breathing and heartbeat to the point that not even a vampire standing next to you could hear your heart. The scent was a little more tricky in that we wore one that neutralized our own personal odor and made us smell more like the environment around us. It was an easy enough trick to make ourselves invisible to the people around us, all you had to do was push the though into their minds to not see the person standing right in front of them.

"Please check in on him daily," Sassy pleaded with me, and I could see how much she cared about his young man.

"I will protect him with my life if necessary," I told her with a serious face. It had taken her nearly two thousand years to find this boy, I did not want her to lose him.

"Thank you," she stood and gave me a formal bow. She was preparing to go back to her country and would soon be playing queen. Sometimes it took a bit of time to completely immerse yourself in the role, Sassy took her job seriously. At times it became apparent that being a ruler was part of her personality and she could never fully shed the cloak of queen. "I will go pack a few personal items. Kendrick will you be ready to go within the hour?"

He merely nodded in agreement as she headed upstairs.

"They tend to have volatile tempers, so do not be surprised if fights break out on a daily basis." Kendrick told me as he too stood up to finish packing.

"This sounds fun, I will be sure to bring some popcorn." I told Kendrick with a laugh. This was teenage drama at its best, who needed Dawson's Creek when you had a pack of werewolves.

"It would be a lot more amusing if it was not for the fact that Sassy's mate is in the middle of this." Kendrick's face showed he was not thinking about Seth but about his own dead mate. He had found her at a very young age, he had been barely eighteen at the time. He had been inexperienced and thought he had forever, too bad he had less than ten years with her. Her death had altered the usually happy go lucky man, if you were to judge by outward appearances it would seem like he was the same person. Occasionally you could catch him touching the tattoos on his arm, his face wreathed in anguish.

Aodh chose this moment to show me the vision of trees again, I mentally rolled my eyes at it. Instead of paying attention to my frustrating spirit I picked up the dirty dishes and quickly washed them in the pristine sink.

Kendrick and Sassy found me staring out at the immaculate gardens that surrounded the house. "We can give you the number of a reliable gardner." Sassy told me as she hoisted her small bag over her shoulder.

"Thank you but it will give me something to do." I told her politely.

"It is not like he is going to be doing anything else with his nights," Kendrick added with a laugh, and I narrowed my eyes at him. Seriously how many people knew that I was not getting sex? Oh well, no secrets in this family.

I turned back to stare at the garden after waving my family through the ripples in the air that indicated the gateway to another place. The formal structure of the garden would mean that all it would need was maintenance, there would be no room for me to get creative. It was drizzling outside but the small amount of rain did not bother me despite of the fact that I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. In a small alcove next to the house was the herb garden, the small raised beds were covered with the option to lift the lid as the weather heated up. This would give you fresh herbs almost year round, something that came in handy with people who loved to cook. Pleased with my find I decided to explore some of the area, but that would take some preparation if the wolves were out patrolling.

A few hours later I had found myself a nice tree on which to perch, the rain had increased to the point where I was glad that my jacket had a hood. It was close to dusk now, the clouds were getting darker by the minute. Seth was not only a teenager but a werewolf with faster than human metabolism. I speculated that the fastest way to locate him would be next to his home, from the smells emanating out of the house a few hundred yards away it was easy to guess that dinner would soon be ready.

I felt my pocket buzz and I quickly checked my phone for a text message. _Hey __there, __when __you __are __done __with __stalking __that __kid __do __you __want __to __go __out __dancing? _Phila knew where I was and therefore would not try to actually call. Knowing my partner this would mean hitting up several places in New York. Since she was a professor in Seattle she went to New York to avoid being seen shaking her ass by one of her students.

_Sure __thing __but __I __get __to __pick __out __what __I __wear._ I was quick to add the caveat in my reply. Last time she made me wear some leather pants and I ended up having to fight off the advances of gay men all night long. Not that I had anything against their lifestyle but I liked breasts far too much to be able to go for a man. I had this thing for the natural ones too, it pissed me off to no end when women wore those stupid padded bras. I loved the seventies when it was common for women to not wear a bra at all, something about that little extra jiggle really did it for me.

_But __this __is __not __the __jeans __kind __of __place, __I __found__the __nicest __pair __of __pants __for __you __to __wear._ I could practically see her pouting as she typed her reply.

_No, __no __and __once __more __no_. Phila tended to pick gay bars, something about those places having the best music. Needless to say, me dressed by a woman in what she thought was sexy coupled with the fact that I could dance usually equated to me being simply irresistible to the boys.

Don't be such a pussy, you know you can tell them no. If all else fails we can wear matching wedding rings.

_Let __me __see __if __I __can __locate __my __lost __little __puppy __and __report __back __to __his __mate._ I will call you if there is still time to go out. When taking time zones into account it was already starting to be late in New York, despite the fact that it was the city that never slept most bars shut down by three or four am. We could of course go back in time but that could quickly become confusing.

There were a couple of rows of trees between myself and the field that led up to the house but through the branches I could see clearly into the small kitchen. I shuddered at the appliances visible through the small window. I knew for a fact that color had been discontinued for at least twenty, if not thirty years. Though I never quite understood who in their right mind thought 'Avocado' was a color that should be used as a color for a stove. The house itself was small by the standards of my family but we tended to like our space, our personalities tended to be large and we did not share all that well.

Despite its size and age it looked well built, the windows were square and the doors fit well into the frames. The owners had spent a great deal of effort on maintaining the place, it was obvious that someone was proud of their home.

I heard the sound of something moving through the underbrush, the speed with which it approached my position was impressive. I knew the wolves were fast but I had not observed them moving at these speeds. It seems the little puppy was coming to get his food. I suppressed a laugh when I noticed the mother setting the table, Seth had impeccable timing.

A small wolf stopped at the base of the tree I occupied, there was something wrong. This was not the wolf I was expecting, Seth was larger and his coat was not grey like the one sniffing at the shrub by my tree. For a moment I was worried that somehow the wolf had picked up on my scent but that did not last as the wolf used its teeth to pull out some clothing that had been hidden in the underbrush. The half torn looking jeans and slightly muddy t-shirt had seen better days but the wolf made a pleased sound when it examined its find.

I moved further out on my branch, taking care to sound like the wind whispering through the leaves when I brushed aside some leave to see the wolf below me better. As it began to shift the grey fur receded to reveal clear bronze skin, it took me a few moments to realize that this was the infamous Leah. The glimpse of a slight curve of a breast was my first clue, I was male of course that is where I looked. Long slender limbs were stretched, and I watched in absolute fascination as she stood up to her full height and stretched her lithe arms to the sky. My reason for observing the creature below me moved away from being curious about a shape shifting woman to the woman herself. And she was definitely female, some of my body parts were a little more eager than other to figure out just how female she was. My dick definitely wanted a closer inspection.

I wanted to see her face. Unfortunately she was facing away from me, short sleek dark hair hid her face from me. She bent down to pick up her clothes and I almost came in my pants, holy shit what an ass. For all her gazelle like limbs her ass was full and high, a man could get a real handful as he pulled her closer to him using those round globes. I was already picturing her riding me without having seen her face.

I was somewhat surprised at myself, normally my reaction was not this strong especially when I knew nothing about the girl. The other surprising thing was that Aodh remained silent, usually it would show me at least one derogatory vision regarding a woman I had just met.

I moved further on my branch, it was easy enough to do since part of my mental abilities allowed me to hover in mid air. Much to my regret she pulled on her pants but that feeling was soon lost as she turned her head and I got a glimpse of her profile. For a moment I looked at a pretty face with the obvious features of a Native American girl but suddenly all that disappeared. Abruptly the feeling of falling hit me, vision after vision bombarded me as reality receded.

* * *

_She was above me wearing only a t-shirt, as she moved it became obvious that she was not wearing anything else. Her face was shimmering with tears as she completely abandoned herself to laughter. Nothing could compare to the beauty and emotion that shone through._

I wanted to watch this woman laugh forever, I wanted to be the one that gave her the reason to laugh. The picture shifted to be replaced by another.

_She was walking across the stage in a horrible looking black gown and graduate cap on her head, the colors looked familiar but I was not trying to figure that out. Again the breathtaking woman caught all my attention... the image shimmered to her throwing up that godawful cap along with her other classmates. Pride and a sense of accomplishment clearly written on her face._

Another shift, and I regretted that the vision lasted only for a moment. I had wanted to look at her some more.

_Small delicate hands with long graceful fingers were being steadied by hands that I recognized as my own. Slowly I slid a ring on her finger, marking her as mine for all eyes to see. Bronze skin pulled over delicate bones shifted as I pulled the fingers closer to my lips. I could practically taste her skin as I kissed the delicate skin that covered her wrist. A blend of honey, roses, pine trees, and a unique scent I could not place._

The white gown she was wearing had giving me the clue that it was our wedding day, but Aodh did not give me long with that vision instead he moved on.

_Two mud covered figures ran across the grass, based on their sizes I would think the oldest one was five, maybe six years old. The other one was not even year behind, that made sense since we put our children in a sort of time limbo so that they could wait for their siblings to be born._

_"Mother," one of them called to the woman waiting for them just inside the gate of my house._

_"What have you two done?" Hands on hips she tried to keep her voice stern but the love and affection was clear. "Wolf and Hawk! What in the world did you do today? You are wolves, not piglets!"_

_A set of childish giggles followed her inside the house._

My vision shifted back to reality but the sense of falling did not dissipate, that was because I was falling. The ground and my mate were quickly approaching. I had pictured meeting my mate several times, of course it usually was perfect. We see each other across the room and our eyes lock, somehow I manage to make my way to her side and I give her my full smile. We bump into each other in the subway and I say hello.

Not once did I imagine introducing myself to my mate by falling out of a tree and slamming my two hundred plus pounds into her. I think that would have made a poor first impression.

Fortunately I managed to stop just a few feet above her, but my relief did not last long as my distraction allowed her to cross the small field. The slam of the door signaled the fact that she was lost to me for now.

So here I was with a raging boner, hovering about fifteen feet above the ground when I heard another crash through underbrush. Reminding me that I was not in the best place if I wanted to avoid detection. This one was louder, proclaiming that it was a much bigger creature. Less that ten feet from me Seth Clearwater appeared and shifted into human form.

That erection I though would last forever suddenly disappeared as I got to enjoy the view of Seth running naked towards the house. His bits flopping around in the wind.

_Your __boy __is __home __safe __and __sound,_ I sent the message to Sassy.

That was the understatement of my life.

* * *

A/N: I so loved writing how Phil first saw Leah. Did you girls like it?

So here is a question? Do you think that Phil is the type of guy that would make him go home and scream from the rooftops that he found his mate or is he going to go to great lengths to protect his mate from everything including his interfering family?

Toshii519: Glad you liked it, Phil is supposed to be funny and not as together as Leah seemed to think he was.

Jamie2772: Here is another little present for you inbox. I thought it was appropriate to show how much Leah actually does for Phil. Most of Dreaming at Dawn was about how Phil changed Leah's life, this is about how she changed his.

Inosolan: You would be cranky too if you could not get any. Well I think he just found Miss Right, now all he has to do is convince her of the fact. No small feat there.

Jada91: It is fun writing Phil's point of view, especially since he is much more self assured.

MargotTenser: Wow what a review, smoochies. I would think it would get to anyone when you could not settle down with one person, messing around might be fun but it might get old if you have to do it for two millennia.

: Glad you liked, it is fun to see Phil's view of Seth and Sassy but it will be more fun to see how he deals with Leah and her problems.


	46. Knowledge

3 - Knowledge

Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and concentrated on calming down, the specialized undershirt that I wore would block the sound of my heartbeats to a certain degree but I did not want to push its limits. It had been a while since I had dealt with these creatures and it would be inconvenient to be found out at this point in time. As soon as possible I would have to discover the limit of their senses, it would have to be done swiftly and without detection. The procedure was nothing new to me, part of my job was monitoring the experiments without being seen and I had gone through these procedures a countless number of times. It might be beneficial to contact Sassy and Kendrick since they had been operating in these woods for several years, but that would have to wait for another night. This night there were other things that needed to be done.

I circled the house and peered through the rain smudged window of the small and crowded living room. Knick-knacks and various bits of what could only be called junk covered every surface of the room. If the rest of the house was similar to this room I might have a hard time moving through the rooms silently. The older woman which I assumed to be the mother was settled in a side chair watching the late news, it looked like the weather man was predicting rain for tomorrow - there was a big surprise. This was followed by nearly five minutes dedicated to the coverage of the local pie eating contest, I was amazed that the wolves had not entered since they would have been guaranteed to win. Maybe they did not like apple pie, though my understanding is that they pretty much ate anything - one of the consequences of their quick healing ability was a high metabolism. Tomorrow night I was willing to guarantee there would be some real news to report; the macabre scene I was planning on leaving behind would most certainly make the news. I knew how to kill in a swift and bloodless way but my current mood demanded guts and gore flung slung across the ceiling.

Sitting together on my couch was my reason for being here, it was just like the vision Aodh had shown me a few minutes ago. The boy on the couch was sitting next to the young woman, love and affection apparent in his smiling face. My spirit was being very helpful in showing me exactly what I needed to see, possibly for the first time in my entire life our goals were perfectly aligned.

_Perfect._I quickly refined my plans for this evening. The mother yawned yet again, signaling the fact that she would soon head to bed leaving the two sitting on the couch alone. Ten more minutes until the top of the hour, so maybe she would leave after her show ended. Although the need to watch these news shows was incomprehensible to me, why would you waste your time on this diluted version when you could get far better information by simply reading? Phila was determined the issue was that people in these times were incapable of reading, but she was somewhat biased considering the fact that she taught college. I had seen her grading their tests, some freshman really should go back to high school because they did not yet have the skills necessary to survive college. Apparently reading, writing and arithmetic were concepts that you did not have to master before obtaining you high school degree.

I smiled when the events unfolded as predicted, twelve minutes later the mother stood and stretched. "All right children I am going to bed, please don't stay up too late."

"Thanks for dinner mom," the boy said as he watched her heading for the stairs. The girl picked up the remote and changed the channel to some rerun, less than half an hour later the pair were pressed up asleep against each other. The smile that wreathed my face would have made most people shit their pants, but no one saw me tonight so they did not realize that death stalked the night. I checked my mental cloak of invisibility, it was sturdier than usual - Aodh must be helping me along, he did that when he truly approved of my plans.

I moved closer to the house, and stepped up to the front door. To my knowledge no one had locked up for the night but the creaking of the door might wake up the wolf so I would need to find a quieter entrance. I closed my eyes and listened to the sleeping woman upstairs, she was out for the night but I added an extra layer of sleep. She would not wake up, no matter how much noise the two downstairs made when they noticed my presence.

Keeping my eyes closed I touched the door, feeling the individual molecules underneath my hand. It took minimal effort to shove enough aside to make room for my body to simply pass through the door as if it did not exist. The television was still on, some rerun of an eighties show, every minute or so the fake audience would laugh adding to the cacophony of sounds. There was enough noise that my muffled footsteps would go unnoticed, despite my invisibility I stuck to the shadows of the room as I circled the pair on the couch.

The girl might have been considered pretty by some standards if it was not for the large scars that crossed her cheek. So this was the Emily Young, the girl who had betrayed her family, the one who had hurt my mate. I had come here to rip apart the wolf who had his hands wrapped around her, but destroying her would be so much sweeter. From what I remember about imprints it would be enough to shred the woman and this Sam would fall apart.

Normally killing was not the first step when dealing with experiments but this time I was justified, they had harmed my mate. Leah was but a shell of the laughing woman that I had seen in my visions, and these two had helped do that to her. They were the reason my mate had sat silently during dinner while her mother and bother chatted pleasantly. She did not seem capable of participating in the conversation almost like she was no longer aware of life moving around her. Her breathtaking eyes were bracketed by lines of strain, her shoulders drooping. At first I had thought it was just one night, but nothing had changed in the four days I had been following her. My mate, the one whose mere existence had brought such joy into my life was miserable - that was unacceptable.

Emily moved around a little, did she sense her impending death? I was not foolish in thinking that killing these two would make my Princess feel any better, but it would make my anger dissipate enough that I could function again. After this I would implement the rest of my plan, I would become anything and everything she needed. My Princess, just like in the story about the princess in the tower. She was all alone up there, trapped with no means to escape; though from the looks of it it was her mind that had her trapped. I had been following her around, trying to gather as much knowledge as possible before approaching her. My restraint was starting to wear thin, soon I would have to talk to her not just listen in on her conversations with others. Not that she spoke too much, mostly she growled and scowled at everything around her; despite all this I still needed her presence. It was with much reluctance that I had left her sleeping fitfully on that small bed, her long limbs half falling off the twin mattress. Even in her dreams she could not seem to be able to find peace.

It was these two sorry excuses for human being that forced me to leave behind my girl. Their existence was an insult to my mate, but that would soon be changed.

My pocked vibrated slightly indicating that I had a new message. I considered not checking it but realized it would most likely be something from Phila regarding the fact that I bailed on her yet again. I had been more than reluctant to tell her about meeting my mate, it would have to be soon but I wanted to have a solid plan before speaking to my family. That way they would have to give me their support, instead of trying to push their unwanted advice on me.

_Where __the __hell __are __you?_ Phila's text message was like a bucket of ice water on the flames of my fury. For a moment the red haze of fury cleared from mind allowing for some logical thought. Hmmm maybe killing these two might not be the best way to help my mate, but when she had whimpered his name with such agony I had to do something. Wiping him off the face of the planet seemed the best choice at the time.

_Contemplating __skinning __someone __alive, __and __leaving __her __carcass __for __her __boyfriend __to __find._ I wrote back so that she would not send out the cavalry.

Having a conversation with my partner might be helpful, Phila did not have the spirit so she might be useful in knowing how to get over being dumped. Maybe she would know what to do about Leah's depression, a cool and distant assessment of the situation is what was needed here. That clearly was not going to come from me, especially with these volatile feelings rushing through my mind.

_What __planet __are __you __on? _Phila obviously was mistaken in thinking this was an assignment. Some alien experiment that had crossed the boundaries and needed to be warned. Since there were not that many experiments on Earth she assumed I had gone elsewhere.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, refusing to contemplate how much I would enjoy destroying this boy and his reason for existence. With great reluctance I found my way out of the house and into the damp night. It was not until I was safely back at the cabin that I replied to Phila's last message. "Aurora call Phila," I whispered to the air.

The volume of my command did not really matter since she heard anyway, there was a small blip on my phone to acknowledge my request. Humans of the early 21st century seemed enamored with their technology, they knew nothing about the technology that used to exist on this planet when the "gods" ruled this place. My family had preserved and added to the knowledge of those ancient aliens, however due to various circumstances it had been deemed best not to share our information.

Aurora was one such technology, she was actually located on the island but remote versions of her existed inside the chip that was embedded in every family member's skull. Her artificial intelligence was centuries ahead of anything on this planet, there were times when she felt like another member of the family.

"That job did not take long? Are you in a hurry or something?" Phila asked instead of saying hello.

"Never mind about that, I need help. How do you get over being dumped?" I needed information and I needed it now. My need for murder and destruction had not been satisfied, and I needed something quickly to distract me from that line of thought.

"Wait, what? Seriously Phil what is wrong with you? I know your spirit has been giving you a hard time but you need to get that shit under control." The concern in her voice was evident as well as the warning. If I did not show improvement soon she would report me to Uncle William, with the powers we possessed it would be dangerous to let one of us get out of control.

"Everything is under control, I finally figured out what my spirit wanted and everything is cool." I was impatient to get on with her explanation, my mate was in pain and I needed to help her. Standing over a pair of children and contemplating murder would not accomplish that.

"When did this happen, and you could not tell me this? I was seriously worried and you can't even pick up the phone and call me." Phila was starting to waste my time, obviously my partner of nearly two thousand years could not be bothered to help.

"Have you been taking lessons from mother in the nag department, I was gathering intel. Now tell me how to get over your boyfriend breaking up with you." Phila was starting to piss me off, I needed her to cooperate.

"Well, well, well. Did you get your mojo back now that your spirit has been appeased? You should have gone dancing with me on Wednesday there were several women of loose morals you could have taken home." She switched from harassing to amused in less than thirty seconds.

"I don't want those women, I want this one. Some jerk ripped her heart out and stomped on it, now tell me the best strategy for making her feel better." I practically growled at her, maybe I should have called someone else for advice. Due to the experimentation done to her father Phila was not the most compassionate of individuals when it came to those outside of the family.

"Oh that is easy, just hit on her. Rebound sex is amazing, she has been knocked down by some guy and took a hit to her self esteem. All you have to do is make her feel a little bit special and her panties will practically disappear." Phila was well aware of the type of women I tended to be interested in as well as my reason for doing so.

"I don't want to get in her panties," well that was a lie but my priorities lay elsewhere right now. "What I want is to make her feel better, not be be rebound boyfriend for a couple of weeks."

"Phil you know you can't give her anything more than a few weeks. Remember Siboniso," Phila's voice became soft and understanding. She knew what it was like for me, the keeping the distance and never settling down.

"Yeah well that is not a problem so do you know how to help her or do I have to call someone else? Blossom might be good," I started to hang up but the loud scream made me pause. Phila usually did not scream so loud, I was a little worried.

"Phillip! Why did you not tell me you have bound to some girl." Her voice came out loud and clear despite of the fact that the phone was nowhere near my ear. Less than a minute later she was standing in front of me with fury in her eyes. Phila really hated when I hid things from her.

Three hours and a case of wine later Blossom, Phila and I were sitting around the cabin fireplace a plotting. Technically speaking Blossom and Phila were plotting - my role seemed to be more along the lines of a waiter, someone to refill their wine glasses. Phila had convinced me to call in Blossom since she was a psychiatrist and might have more insight into the problem.

"This is a really good bottle of wine, where did you get it? Napa?" Blossom asked as she sipped the ruby red drink.

"Actually it is from Oregon, there are several underrated wineries just outside Portland." This seemed to be the extent of my addition to the conversation, I was not allowed to voice my opinion regarding Leah.

"Oh yeah we went there this summer, I should have recognized the the label." Phila added as she examined an empty bottle. What had really happened was I drove while Phila got plastered. Phila usually drank far more than I did, during my doctor years I tended to consume very little alcohol unless it was a family party. Currently I was still nursing my first glass of wine, unlike the other two who were slowly starting to feel the effects of the alcohol.

"The problem with Leah is that you are considered an outsider and in such a tight community it will be next to impossible to move in without garnering a great deal of unwanted attention." Blossom finally got back to the topic I wanted to discuss.

"The town of Forks is not any better, you would have to go all the way to Port Arthur to be unnoticed and that would be too far to justify hanging out on reservation grounds." Phila only added to the list of problems with approaching Leah. "You might be mistaken for some pedophile trying to find you next victim."

"So long as you don't drive the pedo-van you should be fine," Blossom added with a giggle.

"All right that is enough, can we get back to the task at hand. How can I help Leah," the need to throttle these two was starting to rise. I took a deep breath and reached for what little of my patience remained.

"You know it might almost be better if one of us approached her, she might be a little less hostile towards a girl. So Phila do you want to make a new friend?" Blossom seemed to think this was funny.

"All right you think this is amusing? You think some nineteen year old girl who in the past few months has lost her father and her hopes for the future to be entertaining?" I stood up, prepared to leave them to play this game without me for an audience. "I knew you were cold hearted bitches when it came to those outside of the family but I never realized you would treat my girl the same way." I might have done something childish like slam the sliding door on my way out.

A cool mist hit my face but that was not important right now, I needed to get calm again - not an easy thing to do for someone like me. My father's people tended to be a violent lot, it was not a personal flaw but a way to survive. We had extra organs, stronger bones and muscles as well as an immunity to most poisons. My father's planet was harsh and even a glimmer of weakness would get you killed either by the natives or just the freaking planet. Everything from the air, water or even the food had the potential to kill you; the only reason my mother was able to survive because of the genetic modifications she had inherited from her parents, that and the fact that she literally ripped the head off of a person who pissed her off hours after arriving. It gained her enough respect that people did not outright attack her, though not enough that they still did not plot her death from the shadows. Along with the extra sturdy body I had also inherited a vile temper that once aroused was very hard to push down without violence. I placed my hands on the railing while making sure not to imbue my hands with extra strength, Sassy would be pissed if I destroyed her cabin.

Looking out into the gloom I picked a leaf on the shrub below me and followed the stem as it branched into the small veins all the way to the edge of the leaf. I followed this slow and tedious process several times while taking deep breaths.

In the back of my head I was aware that the sliding door opened behind me, but since I could detect the slight scent of roses I ignored Phila behind me.

"I am not being a very good best friend right now," she leaned against the railing next to me. _"__Tá __brón __orm.__"_

"It has taken me nearly two millennia to find her, you have no idea what it is like to finally be able to settle on one woman." The playing around gets old after a couple of centuries. "It feels like that one piece that has been missing from my life is finally within my grasp, a companion instead of something to fuck."

"I am sorry, sometimes I forget what it is like to have the spirit." Her words were merely a whisper. "You would think after all this time I would remember." Out of the corner of my eye I could see a flash of her smile, it was the only warning she gave before she tried to push me over the railing.

I grabbed her arm and we both landed in the shrubs below us, if I was going to land in mud I would make sure to take her with me.

"Joik's balls, did you have to do that now my pants are all muddy." Phila complained as she tried to wipe herself off.

"Hey you were the one who started it, I just brought you along for the ride." The mud on my jeans would be much easier to wash out than the dirt on her cream wool pants. For some reason I did not feel any pity for her wardrobe troubles.

"All right, I deserved it. Do you forgive me now?" She gave me her full on smile again, luckily for me she had already pushed me in the mud so it was safe to say she would not try it again. Blossom was waiting for us when we got inside, I noticed she had switched to water.

"Oh good, did you two work things out?" Blossom asked as we settled back down on the couches.

"Something like that?" Phila said in a nonchalant tone. I noticed she has used her talents to remove the dirt, it sure as heck beat taking it to the dry cleaners.

"I was thinking about some stuff. It would be best to stick to the truth as much as possible because some day you will have to tell her everything and it would piss a woman off to no end that she had been lied to." Blossom got more comfortable on the couch and put her feet up. I would have to make sure to get rid of the scuff marks on the coffee table, Sassy tended to be somewhat sensitive about such things.

"I can't tell her the truth, Bee has already given me strict orders to keep the Cullens and the wolves in the dark about our family until after the Volturi have come and gone this January," and the problems just kept piling up. "Though she is considering giving the Cullen family and the wolves the full protection of our family as far as the Volturi are concerned."

"I talked to great-uncle Peter and he spoke of allowing the Cullens into the family. They are not power hungry like the Volturi and understand the importance of family." Blossom's words made me feel a little better. Peter was one of three elders along with Bee and Mari, if he told Blossom this then it would be something they were truly contemplating.

"It also helps that Leah's little brother is Sassy's, that is added incentive to include the wolves in our family." It was starting to be apparent that the only way to do this was to bring everyone in, I explained about the Edward Cullen's mind reading ability coupled with the werewolves sharing thoughts while shifted.

"It seems this is going to be tell all or reveal nothing," Blossom finally understood the dilemma, but it did not bring me any closer to being able to tell Leah who I really was.

In the end we decided to stick to the truth or most of it, I would be on vacation from my real job; staying at a friend's house. I was ordered by both Blossom and Phila to keep things on friendly terms only. No romantic overtures, she needed to feel better about herself first before she needed a new boyfriend. They did not understand the lengths I would go to just to see her laugh again, it would be next to nothing to keep my hands to myself if it meant seeing her smile.

It took three more days for me to find the perfect opportunity to meet her. Our bumping into each other would have to look accidental; the events of the past few months would have made most people suspicious, so my reason for all of a sudden showing up would have to be extremely mundane.

It was a dreary Saturday morning, Sue Clearwater was cleaning up her kitchen and preparing some sort of casserole. I was in my usual perch of a tree, it was becoming somewhat tiresome just sitting here doing nothing.

"Can I come along mom?" Leah asked as her mother prepared to leave to see the Chief of Police of Forks.

Even through the wall I could hear the awkward pause as Sue Clearwater tried to tell her daughter that she did not want her presence. "Can you come along?...Well are you sure you want to?"

"Don't worry mom you don't have to be seen with me, you can just drop me off at the diner." Leah's bitterness appeared to reach a new level as it became apparent that not even her own mother wanted her around.

"Oh.. all right, if that is what you want," her mother replied with relief evident in her tone.

Unlike the two in the house I was excited by this plan, the local diner would be the perfect place to meet her. I stuck around for a few more minutes while they solidified their plans before jumping back to the cabin. Removing my wolf stalking gear I quickly stepped into the shower before getting dressed in plain jeans and a t-shirt.

Aunt Katie thought we should be nominated for oscars, not even hollywood actors spend as much time and effort preparing for their roles. My family and I did not get paid the millions for our acting skill, our only payment was the fact that we could go undetected among the humans. I had been taught from birth to blend in, both in the way I behaved as well as the clothing I wore.

The people around here were very much middle class and it would be conspicuous if I wore the clothes of the doctor from LA. My costume would have to change to reflect this, as well as my behavior. My current role was some guy who normally works hard but was currently taking some time off from all that mess - no one would suspect that I was actually working.

Grabbing a coat to ward off the drizzle that constantly fell in this region I headed for the garage. Should I take the small truck or my bike? The bike was cooler and it would add to the image of my transient status. I can imagine that after being dumped by the good boy Sam that everyone seemed to love, Leah would probably not appreciate another golden boy. Not that I could claim that title, I liked bending the rules a little too much. The deviant behavior was beyond my control, had my family been a bunch of rule followers my grandmother would have never figured out a way to rebel against the gods and kick them off of the planet.

The dark gleam of my extra helmet caught my eye as I hopped on my bike, would it be presumptuous to take it? Not that I assumed she would just jump on the back of my bike or anything, that was just wishful thinking on my part but it might be better to be prepared if she ever wanted to.

The ride from the solitary cabin to the surprisingly busy diner took me less than fifteen minutes, but I was pushing my bike to the limits. It had been a while since I had used my bike on a regular basis so this was a good opportunity for my body to remember the tricks, for me riding a bike was all about instinct. Due to our enhanced abilities it was very hard for us to turn off our minds, usually it took a lot of effort to minimize the amount of thinking we did - one of the best ways was meditation, but that was not as much fun as going seventy miles an hour on slick and winding roads.

The small eatery was busy this morning, a mixture of smells including bacon grease, eggs, and coffee hit me as soon as I stepped through the creaky door.

"Just find a seat," the harried looking waitress told me over her shoulder as she carried three plates at once and not so gently placed them in front of the patrons. The fourth customer sitting at the booth gave a furious frown when he noticed his meal was not present. Hmm. The odds of her getting a good tip from that table just diminished.

I gave a small smile and a nod, hoping to convey my infinite patience. The excessive speeds to which I pushed my bike guaranteed that I had beat Leah and her mother to Forks by at least half an hour. In my haste to meet Leah in an inconspicuous way I did not take into account the fact that being too early would hinder my plans.

Luck was with me because the single waitress was too busy to pay too much attention to me. At one point she threw a worn looking menu in my direction and promised to come back for my drink order soon. Ten minutes later she was still busy trying to settle the gaggle of little girls that had stormed inside bringing with them a noxious cloud of perfume. The waitress tried to encourage them to sit somewhere other than the booth but they were determined to occupy that spot despite of the fact that they were practically in each other's laps. It soon became apparent why the little girls needed to sit in that particular booth, as a group of similarly aged boys came through the door less than five minutes later and then proceeded to squeeze into the booth right next to them.

It was kind of cute, they were playing the 'I am not paying attention to you in order to flirt with you' game. I don't actually remember doing that in high school, but I guess at that age I was already doing college level classes. Plus it did not help that at fifteen I was less than five feet tall and skinny as a rail. It was not until twenty that I hit my full height and put on some bulk; it was part of the package deal that I inherited from my mother. The spirit somehow delays our bodies maturing for a while, and then it all comes along...the height, the extra strength and the mental powers. And our sex drive sort comes along at full strength right along the time when we are forced to leave society in order to learn to control our powers. Let me tell you how much that sucks.

It was another good twenty minutes before my waitress came back with my water. Several of the tables had left making the place a lot less packed, and in my mind a lot more peaceful - there were fewer people for me to take into account as I went through the how to kill everyone in the room scenarios.

"What can I get you?" Sally the waitress asked with her pen poised over the note pad. She was a woman of small stature, clearly smelling of cigarettes. I guess that explained where she had gone for those five minutes. Her hair was in need of another dye job, the inch of salt and pepper brown hair at the roots showing that she clearly was not a natural blonde. Generally speaking she had the right idea, it was better to go lighter as you got older since the grey hairs would blend in better that way but it was also good idea to keep a regular schedule of coloring your hair. I gave her my order in a clear and concise manner, I might almost get what I asked for that way. She seemed impressed with my order, especially since I ordered the greens as well as the mixed vegetables.

I sipped my cold water after discarding the lemon while watching her clear the now empty tables. Some of the locals were giving me quick peeks over their newspapers trying not to appear too curious. Well most of them were, the two little biddies in the corner booth did not bother to hide their inquisitiveness as they called the waitress over and tried to quiz her about the tall stranger sitting at the bar.

Blossom had been correct in her assessment of this small town, I had not been here more than thirty minutes and they were already looking at me with suspicion in their eyes. "Who is that?" they asked Sally in hushed tones, not realizing that I could hear them clearly across the room.

"Has he been here before," the other one asked without waiting for an answer. I sighed and turned away, barely resisting the temptation to wink and wave at them in order to show that I knew what they were doing. My clothing had been appropriate and fit in with the local fashion, it was my height and obvious foreignness that raised red flags for most people. Hopefully I could talk my way around that with Leah, of course she would have to speak to me and from what I had seen for the past week she does not speak to anyone. Suddenly all the factors that I could not control came to the forefront, what if she refused to speak to me? What if she thought I was some sex offender? What kind of a person tries to pick up girls at a diner? Someone that is absolutely desperate and can't seem to get a date any other way, the person that is over forty years old and still lives with their mother. Maybe I could find another way to meet her, something more conductive to meeting strangers.

The big issue was that the girl never went anywhere, not to college where I could bump into her on campus or even to a freaking bar where I could ask her to dance. The thought of dancing with her was appealing, it would be nice to see her moving that lithe body of hers to the music. The only problem was getting her on the dance floor, she had not left the house for anything other than patrols for the past week. I could feel my confidence in the plan waning, and it would not be good to show my turmoil of emotions when I had half of Forks watching me. I forced my muscles to relax before I casually stood up and headed across to the door marked as the restroom. Grabbing the sink with both hands I stared at the mirror trying to reshape my expression into something resembling disinterest. My current role was the tourist that just happened to be staying in a friend's cabin. I was not the guy that after nearly two thousand years finally found the girl he wanted to spend eternity with. I was not about to throw up in the nasty toilet because I was so nervous and excited at the prospect of talking to her. I looked at my eyes, my very boring brown eyes since the pale green would have marked me as different.

"This is just for shits and giggles, you have no worries and no job to think about. All you are doing is having a little fun. You are not about to fucking freak out like a virgin little pussy. You could pick up a woman in your sleep." But it has never mattered before now, all those other women were easily used and discarded. This girl was irreplaceable, if she shot me down I could not move onto the next available woman. Suddenly I could no longer see myself in the mirror instead there was an image of a smiling Leah, her cute nose crinkled in humor.

I took another deep breath as a true calm finally settled over me, that was my goal for now: to see her smile. I wanted to see the corners of her mouth curl up in real life instead of in my visions. Baby steps, I would worry about eternity later. For now all I needed from her was a smile, maybe two and that would be what I strived for. It would have to be enough for now, that is all I required.

I washed my hands two times before heading out the nasty bathroom with a confident stride, never show weakness. Almost missing a step I looked up to see her sitting at the bar looking in my direction. On the inside I was doing the touch down dance because she was looking at me - for a moment I seriously wanted to kick my own ass for being this pathetic. But that thought was quickly abolished as I finally looked into her eyes, something that had been impossible to do for the past week considering I was being an invisible stalker. Her eyes might have been called brown by some but when surrounded by those dark eyelashes they appeared almost golden. The same pretty eyes that were at this moment looking at me filled with curiosity, that was far preferable to anger. She looked me up and down for a moment before meeting my eyes again, it seemed that we were having a staring contest. Her chin lifted a fraction of an inch indicating her absolute refusal to look away from this battle, my girl was a competitive little thing. While she was checking me out it would not be out of place for me to check her out as well. Dressed in a poorly fitting t-shirt that disguised her true shape and a pair of ragged jean shorts she should not have been able to take my breath away but that is what she did; it did not help that I knew exactly what she looked like underneath those borrowed clothes. That is what they have to be considering that no teenage girl in her right mind would wear those unless the alternative was going naked. The short sleeved shirt was so long on her that it covered her supple arms from my sight, the jeans that looked like they had been full length at one time had been shortened with more enthusiasm than skill and fell just below her knees. Much to my pleasure her pretty little calves were visible as her legs dangled from the tall chair. The pants were very loose on her meaning that I would not be able to get a proper look at that fine ass of hers, though that might be a good thing because a raging boner might not be the best way to introduce myself.

Here I was admiring the most beautiful woman I had seen and she was still glaring at me with determination to win the staring contest. I suppressed a smile while looking away first, what she did not understand is that I was not her enemy. In fact my role in her life would be the exact opposite of that. I would be her champion, always at the ready to watch her back in times of trouble, I would even be willing fight her battles for her if that is what she needed.

"Here is your food honey, is there anything else you need?" Sally was being a lot more attentive now that the crowd had dispersed. She need not worry, I was always a good tipper.

"Ketchup," the food looked like it would require something to mask the taste. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Leah move a little, could it be that she liked the sound of my voice. Hmm I wonder how she would react when I whispered naughty things into her ear. My body did not need much incentive as it went through several scenarios, but now was not the time to be thinking of such things. Instead I concentrated on the food in front of me, the food was not horrible as I initially feared just really bad for you. What did they use in this meatloaf? Bacon grease and lard?

I watched as Sally placed a tall glass in front of her filled with some sort of pink concoction. The difference between the two woman could not have been more glaring. Leah's darker complexion was smooth and clear of all blemishes while Sally's was filled with lines which probably were a testament to the poor lifestyle choices she had made as opposed to the time she had lived. Sally had attempted to cover the fine lines she gained from smoking by applying heavy doses of makeup that only accented the problem. Leah on the other hand was clean faced, and completely natural; there was something refreshing about a woman who was capable of putting herself out there without trying to hide behind the perfect clothes, hair and makeup. I might have been slightly biased but after dealing with women that never show their true selves it was nice to deal with someone like Leah. It was kind of ironic that I, the perpetual liar that never showed their true self to the world was attracted to someone who did not hide behind a mask. Though I guess she had some secrets, like the fact that she was a wolf.

I frowned when noticing she had only ordered a milkshake, that could not be enough for her. As a werewolf she would need to eat a lot more food than that, and I know she had not eaten lunch yet. Maybe poor finances prevented her from getting more to eat, she was not working at this time - at least not a job that paid. A great deal of her time was spent patrolling which made it hard for her to have a steady job. Would it be too much to offer to buy her food? That would go against the whole casual tourist look but it was against my nature to not feed her if she was hungry. Anything she needed I would help her obtain, even if it was as simple as food.

I looked over at her, prepared to offer to buy her something else when I noticed her stab her drink. It was not the let me mix this thing up a little bit more stab either, no this was the I hope you die and burn in hell for eternity jab at the poor defenseless cherry. I was not trying to read her mind but sometimes when someone's thoughts are strong enough we can't help but see them. It looked like she was remembering something about an older man eating the cherry for her, I identified him as her father from the pictures around her house. That was irrelevant at this point, what was more important was that she looked to be in pain and a distraction was necessary.

"Are you going to eat that?" I asked her with a slight smile.

"What?" Her voice was a combination of anger and sorrow, she was still mourning her father's death.

"The cherry, you gonna eat it or kill it?" As much as I hated butchering the english language she needed some humor right now. It was with much reluctance that I looked away from her, not wanting to seem to invested in this conversation.

"I don't like maraschino cherries," she told me sounding a little confused, but at least some of the sorrow had left her face. My head automatically swung back towards her voice, I needed not to make eye because if I looked into her upset eyes once more it would be impossible to resist the need to hold her in my arms.

"I see," I looked away again trying to not look interested. She went back to drinking her shake but with little enthusiasm, it appeared her memories were too much for her right now. My hands tightened into fists, but it was that or grabbing her in a hug and I don't think she would appreciate some stranger trying to comfort her right now. Not five minutes later she stabbed her drink one more time before storming to the front to pay for the drink she had barely touched.

The door closed with a bang as she left, only I was able to hear her growling before the door slammed shut. It seemed the memories were too much for her, and there was nothing I could do about it right about now. Frowning I turned back to my food, only to notice a plaid piece of fabric a few stools down from me. In her haste she had left her jacket on the back of the chair, my frown turned into a smile as I finally saw my opportunity. I quickly finished my meal, and signaled for my check.

Luck was with me as no one notice as I place my jacket over hers before grabbing them both. Though technically she would not get cold it did not mean that this would not be a great excuse to find her and talk to her. It would be easy enough to locate her in this small town.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this took so long, other things have been occupying my time. If it was up to me I would have spent all my time with Leah and Phil. Though I have been bad and stalking Buffy and Angel (now there is a yummy vampire.) Wow I have not updated in a month and I have been so many reviews, though most of them are asking for an update. Maybe I should not update as quickly, just joking. Seriously though I have been working on real life stuff and it took up every waking moment, getting more than four hours a sleep a night was a luxury for a while but that is much better now.

December Duchess: Glad you like the story and my totally perverted Phil. I guess this is the Phil that Leah did not get to know yet, the one with all those lifetimes worth of experience and memories. By nature he is a violent person but he is always patient and sweet with his Princess so I am playing with that characteristic right now.

Toshii519: Lol yes he met Leah and now he is stalking her, but you know what they say it is not stalking if you do it with love. I am quoting Blossom here, I am sure she would have said something along those lines.

Jaime2772: Hopefully you found some tasty cookie recipes, glad that you liked the last chapter and that it helped you feel a little better on your crappy day.

Ms Animegoddess: I see you are switching personalities, and yeah he is male so sex is on his mind a lot. He is just good at pretending like he does not want it. :D

Inosolan: I would think that Phil would think Leah was hot, even at the beginning of Leah's story she noticed him checking her out with admiration. Though that might have just been because she tried to punch Sam, something Phil's can't do without risk of exposure.

Connect2tjb: Having fun getting ready for the holidays? Thanks for your continued support.

Lady Forrest: I don't know if you have made it this far in the story yet but I am glad you like this Leah, I think she is one of the most fun characters to write. I tried Bella at one point but she is just too freaking nice; it is so much more fun to let out your inner bitch every once in a while.

MargotTenser: Wow what a review, if I could I would give you a cookie. Though I have not time to bake yet so you would be getting a cupcake flavored goldfish... it is tastier than it sounds. Leah always thought that Phil helped get her out of a dark place, but what Leah did not realize is that she did the same for Phil. They are both better off together than apart, or at least I hope so. The sum is worth more than the parts, that sort of thing.

Hgmsnoopy: Hi snoopy long time no see, yeah Phil is a pig but then most males are.

Jada91: Well what do you think of the first face to face meeting. Did Phil act all cool :D.

Edana Brietta: Glad you like Phil's point of view, it has actually been fun to write in some parts.

31Elizabeth: Well I got the update up if not the soon part, happy that you are enjoying reading this.

Anon: Whoever you might be, thanks for the prodding I was kind of slacking off. Seth's story, might start up on that one after this...maybe one more chapter of Phil.

MeMeMeMeeeeee: Lol, that is an awesome name. Was working on it, but it took me a while.


	47. Avoiding Conflict

4 - Avoiding Conflict

The air smelled clean and crisp as I stepped outside the building, there was just something about this place with its vast quantities of rain that made it so much more pleasant to breathe for those of us with a overdeveloped sense of smell.

My Princess was nowhere to be seen, but I could not rush my search for the girl. There was a prickle of irritation that travelled down my spine signaling the fact that I was not alone, numerous sets of curious eyes were glued on my retreating back. Haste would only raise suspicion, so my steps were slow and measured - timed to my breaths. Breathe in, step, breathe out, step. The ability to appear unaffected was a basic survival skill among my family, human families taught their kids to swim and ride a bike, my grandmother had taught me how to keep my face expression smooth even when in severe pain.

I remember hurting myself one summer, Phila and I had been fooling around and somehow I fell out of a tree. My shoulder had been dislocated, I could not have been more than ten at the time. My grandmother Bee would not let them fix my shoulder until I could hold a pleasant conversation regarding the weather; some might think it was cruel but it is the way of my family. She was not trying to cause me pain, she was preparing me for a life where the ability to look dispassionate could mean the difference between life and death.

Pulling the cloak of indifference around me I dug through my back pocket for my keys. I checked the right side first, pretending that I did not know that they were in the left. The sensation of being watched faded slightly, there was nothing to see here - just a dumb biker searching for his keys.

I placed Leah's borrowed jacked in the compartment underneath my seat before pulling on my own jacket. Every muscle in my body was forced to remain relaxed, all my movements slow and steady. A large meal filled my belly, I had no place to be so why should I be in a hurry? At least this is the attitude I attempted to project.

The steady purr of the engine was a relief, it meant that I was now one step closer to finding my mate. Only when I was sitting astride the bike with my helmet on did I allow my eyes to scan the surrounding street in search of Leah.

The helmet concealed my grimace as I realized she was nowhere to be seen, and Aodh was not giving me any visions. It looked like I was going to have to do this the human way, the though of driving around town and searching for my Princess did not appeal to me. I wanted to see her NOW. With a frustrated sigh I rolled my shoulders and pulled out into the street.

It took me far longer than necessary to locate her, as she had gone down one of the residential side streets instead of sticking to the busier main street. Aodh had to give me a little nudge in the right direction before I finally found her stomping down the street, fury pouring off of her in waves. Leah's depressed mood had shifted to one of pure rage, it did not take me long to discern the reason behind this change in her tempter.

The detestable boy, Sam was following her giving her orders. "Leah don't be stubborn," he told her as he tried to catch up. There was an older truck parked down the street, Emily was standing near it looking uncertain.

I would have probably found Sam's orders words humorous, considering asking Leah not to be stubborn was tantamount to asking her not to breathe; unfortunately watching this despicable little boy harass my mate had ignited my own temper. Fortunately my face was safely hidden behind the visor of the helmet because I don't think it was possible for me to control my expression.

I passed Leah before turning my bike around to face her, her lithe form distracted me instantly. She really was sexy when in a temper, her cheeks flushed and her brown eyes flashing. What would it be like if she channelled all that emotion and passion into something a little more sensual? My jeans were getting a little too tight for comfort, I really needed to think of something else. The roots of the brachial plexus are derived from C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1. These five roots then fuse into four trunks with the long thoracic nerve branching off first. My mind went through the innervation of the shoulder and arm as I stopped the bike.

It gave me an inordinate amount of pleasure that she paused to check me out, though I could have been just deluding myself and the girl was simply curious about the stranger stopped by the side of the road.

Her steps faltered as she walked past me, this gave Sam enough time to catch up with her. "I told your mother we would make sure you got home and that is what I am going to do." I took my helmet off, eager to watch her reaction to the idiotic order. I had not known her for more than a handful of days but did this Sam really think that would work on her? My guess was that her reaction would be the exact opposite of his command.

Then the fool made another mistake, this time a fatal one. He grabbed her arm, nothing could have prepared me for the fury of watching that boy manhandle my mate. All the years of control were stripped away as instinct took over, that thing dared touch one who was under my protection - now he had to die. Every bone in his body would be broken until he was begging me for the mercy of death. Of its own volition my body started to heat up, preparing for battle. Nearly two millennia worth of control was required for me to remain on my bike and not put my fist through that boy's chest. Luckily Leah beat me to the punch, so to speak, she tried to take a swing at the boy. He ducked out of the way but did not attempt to hit her back, that was a very smart move on his part - hitting Leah would have marked him for death and even nearly two thousand years of controlling my temper would not have been enough to stop me this time.

"Leah," I called to her trying to move her attention away from the boy who had a death wish. I really did not want to have to deal with trying to dispose of two corpses this afternoon, and if Sam so much as harmed a hair on her head he would be a dead man. Emily would have to be killed as well for being a witness. Leah's reaction to me committing murder was the only thing keeping me in check.

Several seconds passed before she looked in my direction, confusion clouding her eyes before recognition took over. I concentrated on thoughts of peace and calm, if I was not careful my double heartbeat would give away my alien nature. Stiff muscles were forced to make fluid movements as I reached for my excuse for being here, her jacket.

I lost Leah's attention again to the other girl Emily showing up and huddling close to that boy. Emily's eyes were filled with suspicion and a bit of fear that cleared up as soon as Sam touched her. I nearly laughed out loud at her ignorance, she ran to Sam to protect her - she did not realize how little he could do to save her if I decided she needed to die. Sam quickly wrapped his arms around around her, giving a small reassuring squeeze before he went back to glaring at me. While I found this behavior amusing Leah did not share this feeling. Her expression which had been filled with fury changed yet again, this time to misery - all these mood swings must be exhausting for her especially with the heightened wolf emotions. I could see the tears starting to pool at the bottom of her eyes and all I wanted to do was to grab her and take her away from here. For a moment a twinge of jealousy went through my body, I envied this Sam for he was allowed to hold his mate and protect her.

"What?" Leah ground out, her tone a mixture of pain and anger. "What do you want?"

It was a little bit disconcerting how much I enjoyed the fact that she was talking to me, even if she was not exactly happy about the situation. What did I want? Would it be premature to ask for her eternal love? Probably should wait on that one, speaking of which I should also find her a ring.

Currently I did not have a token of my affection with me but I did have a paltry gift for her, the jacket which she had left behind. I threw the object in her direction knowing she could catch it easily, instead of Leah grabbing hold of her clothing the boy caught it. I had been trying my best to ignore him, not liking the fact that my Princess still gave him the power to hurt her. The fool was determined to annoy me, he was glowering at me thinking that his size alone would be enough to intimidate me. I had faced far more perilous situations than an infant shape shifter that obviously could not control his talents, this was made obvious by the scars gracing Emily's cheek.

"You're welcome, princess." Sarcasm was second nature to me and I was not going to roll over and act polite if she was going to be so short with me. A plethora of lies would be told by me before I could tell her the whole truth, but I was to going to act like someone I am not.

The boy was paranoid about my sudden appearance and suspicious regarding how I knew Leah. His thoughts became so loud that they were impossible not to hear even when I was not trying to do so. _Who is this and can he harm Emily?_ It was interesting to note that he feared for his mate more than himself, he was calculating how easily he could take me down without his mate being touched.

I gave a little smirk as I imagined Sam's reaction if he tried to "take me down". Boy would he be in for a surprise. Maybe it was some deep instinct on his part but as he continued to glower at me some of his confidence left him, maybe his inner wolf was trying to warn him that there was a deadlier predator in his midst. Quickly his thoughts turned to retreat, he did not want to fight near Emily when she could easily be hurt. "Get in the truck Leah," he gave another oder, this time with a great deal more power behind his words. This voice was a little bit different sounding than his normal speech, he had not raised his voice, yet it had more force. It was a weaker version to our voice, the one where we layered our mental voices on top of our physical one in order to compel humans to be more agreeable to our suggestions.

I shifted my legs so that I was no longer straddling the bike, if my memory served me right the alpha of a pack could give orders that were impossible to ignore by the members of the pack. Was this what he was doing right now? Trying to bend Leah to his will? He had done nothing but make mistake after mistake in his interactions with Leah, giving orders and even going so far as to trying to physically compel her to go with him. But this, this was entered a whole new sphere of errors. Sam giving his alpha order just went against one of the most fundamental rules of the family, he tried to take away her right to choose using his super-human skills. Free will was a right my family took very seriously, as the guardian of this region it would be well within my rights to give him a severe warning for breaking this law. My family held very little sacred but the right to choose your own fate was considered sacrosanct.

Leah had forced her attention away from the embracing couple, to my relief she seemed unaffected by the order. The slow drizzle had made her hair wet, it was on its way to being plastered to her pretty little head. Her beautiful long lashed eyes assessed my body yet again, I was not trying to hear her thoughts so her thoughts regarding this stranger that had approached her were unknown to me. I did not doubt that the cogs in the brain of hers were moving, trying to categorize me. It was pleasing note that her gaze was not altogether clinical in evaluation of my body, she appeared to linger on my feet. I watched in fascination as Sam's words finally registered, her face went from curious to furious within seconds.

"Are you trying to give me an order," her words were forced through gritted teeth. My suspicions were confirmed, Sam had been trying to take away her free will; the fact that Sam was no longer her alpha appeared to protect Leah. Instead of obeying she became even more furious, as young as she was I was not certain she could hold her shape with that much emotion coursing through her little body. Her hands began to shake in anticipation of the shift.

"You need a ride, Princess?" I grinned at the way things had worked out, it had become almost too easy to find a way to ingratiate myself into her life.

She opened her mouth, ready to tell me off when the idiot boy interrupted her. "She is not going anywhere with you," the strength of his anger towards me was unjustified. I had done very little to incur his wrath, he did not know enough about me to be this furious. Regardless of that, his last words just clinched the deal for Leah, I did not need my psychic abilities to know that I would be giving her a ride.

Leah stepped back from the argument with Sam both psychologically and physically, finally realizing it was pointless. Her ability to reason while in the midst of such heightened emotions was impressive, she would make an awesome guardian if that is what she chose.

I knew she was only doing it to piss off Sam but when she gave me that sexy little look it was all I could do not to grab her and kiss her senseless. Her rose colored lips puckered slightly as she sauntered a little closer. Aodh flashed me an image of a beach, I got the impression of a rocky shore and turbulent grey waters before regaining my sight.

I suggested that she put on her jacket, it would not be good for her to get cold. A great deal of energy was required to stay warm and if she got hungry it would cut into the amount of time I could spend in her company.

_How bad could he be?_ I heard her especially loud thought as she retrieved her jacket from the now shaking Sam. She had no idea how bad I could actually be, at times my job required a certain level of brutality. Blackmail, torture and even murder were not unheard of - some days we killed hundreds of the infected. Men, women and children were not spared if they had the infection controlling their bodies. However as far as she was concerned I was a guardian angel; there was nothing I would not help her accomplish, not that she would be aware of my protection but she had it nonetheless.

Sam protested yet again regarding her choice, luckily he did not try to give another order. I pulled out my extra helmet while the two were occupied in another argument, it was interesting to note that Emily did not participate in the conversation. Was she afraid because there were two wolves fighting or was she just one of those women who allowed their husband to do all the talking?

"What is your name?" she asked me as she got behind me on the bike. My body shuddered in pleasure at her proximity, this time the visions of what we could do together were not from Aodh but a product of my own salacious mind. Her lips were starting to curl up on the sides, the closest to a smile I had seen since meeting her. The feeling of pride fluttered through my chest as I got one step closer to my goal of seeing her genuine smile.

"Phil," I gave her the helmet wishing I could have also brought some sturdier shoes for her. Those flip flops were not going to protect her feet if anything happened, I would have to be extra careful today to make sure she did not get hurt.

I liked the fact that she managed to get in the last word, I liked the way she pressed herself against me, but most of all I liked the fact that she had just of her own free will picked me over that stupid and annoying little pup.

As we drove off I could not help but smile, it was a good thing my helmet covered my face because otherwise the goofy grin on my face would have been hard to explain.

* * *

A/N: All right this was a short one, and I don't know how much new information I actually gave. I am still trying to work out the kinks of Phil's character. From his father's side he is supposed to have inherited the need for violence and brutality, his instincts keep telling him to kill first and sort it out later. Obviously this approach usually does not work well on Earth so he has tried to control his temper, just because he can control himself does not mean that those instincts no longer exist. Finding his mate had brought out a whole new set of instincts to protect. At least that is what I am trying to convey, maybe he is just coming off as a violent asshole.

IBTeri: Glad you liked it, I never had much respect for Sam and Emily especially since their happiness came at the cost of someone both claimed to love. Thanks for adding to fav :D.

Phillis P Phillis: Lol I know we love Phil, but unfortunately I think so will Leah and she will easily kick our collective asses if we even think about it.

Kendrick's Fan: I too like Kendrick and I have a tentative plan for his story but as I have told others before his story does not occur in the world of vampires or wolves so it would be hard to do write it within the Twilight universe.

Anon: Glad you like Phil's side of the story, I will try to keep it going for a little while longer. At least until such time when you gain nothing new from his point of view.

TessFan: I might split this off as a separate story, but right now it is easier just to tack it onto the end of Leah's. I think it would be too confusing to read his side without hers first. Thanks for the encouragement.

Ren-sensei: Leah is soon becoming one of my favorite characters, I have a Bella story going but have a hard time writing because she is just so passive. I recently wrote a chapter in which Bella's more bitchy side came out, that was much more fun. I guess I don't like weak women and Leah is anything but weak. Glad you like the story, I actually have a lot of fun writing it.

MargotTenser: Cupcake goldfish do exist, but now I have found the most awesome carrot cake recipe known to woman...oh my god it is so good. We are talking putting everything in it including coconut and pineapple along with the carrots ...so tasty. Plus it is beyond easy to make. I am glad you liked this side of Phil, it is so hard to write a sympathetic character that stays true to the way I picture Phil. By they way smoochies for the awesome review. I really like it when people tell me how they feel about the characters it tells me I am on the right path (or that I need to stick to my day job :D).

Rocklesson86: No I did not join the occupy movement, just had to do some work in real life plus the holidays really sap my time.

MeMeMeMeeee: Love you name as usual. I always giggle when I read it. I see Invader Zim screaming , "pay attention to me, to meeeeee." Phil POV lemon, you want his fantasies of a chapter that coincides with a lemon Leah talked about? Puppy do eyes don't work on me, my five year old has the biggest brown eyes I have ever seen and I have become immune.

Jade91: Lol, Phil has had his instinct pretty much under control, but now with this mate thing they are trying to take over again. Plus he is very upset over not being able to make Leah feel good again.

Connect2tjb: Holiday season and relaxing don't exactly go hand in hand but January was great. But it was filled with friends and the crazy family that drive us nuts but we can't avoid. Hope yours was fun, and you ate lots of yummy things.

Hgmsnoopy: SNOOPY, I feel so boring with my user name, I wish I could come up with one of these cool names. I think on an intellectual level Phil always understood that harming Sam would make Leah upset but he also just needs to do something and obliterating the one who caused her that much pain is not that bad of a plan on the surface. His need for death and destruction will be controlled soon, especially if Leah stops having to deal with Sam.

Inosolan: I did try to drag out the suspense when it came to Phil stalking someone at the beginning of the chapter, I thought it would be fun. Seeing Leah on a regular basis should be fine so long as there are not threats against her, at least I hope so. I am thinking of Phil having a hard time controlling his libido, thought that might be fun.

GothicChiq80: Glad you like, hope this short chapter will be enough.

December Duchess: Again what is with all these cool names, it seems everyone who reviews has a good one. Thanks for laughing when you were supposed to, I hope it would not freak out too many people about how blood thirsty he really was.

Imprinting Magic: Glad you liked the story, thanks for telling me this.

All right, seems like all my thanks for the reviews are longer than my actual story. I am sorry about the short chapter, I have another segment halfway done but it is about Phil visiting his son on another planet and it did not fit into this part as of yet. Will put that one up after the next chapter...still have to finish Leah and Phil on the beach together for the first time.


	48. The Beach

5 - The Beach

Forks was a small town bordered by a national park on the east and a native american reservation on the west. This translated to very few major roads and even fewer crossroads for me to get lost on; I would have made a very poor first impression if my debilitatingly poor navigation skills were revealed this quickly. For most of my life I had been the butt of the joke any time someone even mentioned the word lost; my family found it very amusing that while the technical aspects of following a map were very clear to me I would constantly get turned around. When we hunted for the infected every guardian used a GPS device that was guided by Aurora, this was a necessary tool as the terrain and locations of our assignments varied so much that even the best navigators could not keep up with the heterogenous landscapes we were expected to safeguard. This device was part of the technology that was imbedded in most of our skulls in order to facilitate our jobs as guardians. While most of my family tended to shut the navigation system off when not hunting my disability made me heavily reliant on Aurora's maps and therefore my internal GPS was constantly turned on; periodically I would turn it off hoping against hope that a miracle had occurred and my sense of direction after two thousand years of absence would suddenly appear - I was still waiting. The dilemma currently was that without the GPS my behavior would appear more normal, as a stranger to these parts not knowing which roads to take would have been a natural occurrence; however getting completely and utterly lost would made me look like a buffoon in the eyes of a girl I really needed to impress. In hopes of a compromise the GPS device was still turned on but I had not asked Aurora to direct me to a specific destination.

My plan was simple and therefore possibly doable even for me, Leah had asked for a ride but she had not specified that she wished to go home. I knew from Sam's thoughts that he had been directed by Sue Clearwater to take her daughter back home since she was busy with the Chief of Police. Leah had not stated that home was where she wished me to take her, I was fairly certain that she was too far gone in her defiance of that obnoxious boy to have given much thought as to where we were headed. Realistically I was aware that eventually she would at some point have to be safely delivered to her home but I was planning on taking a circuitous route in hopes of extending my time with the precious girl who was currently clinging to my back.

Despite my calm exterior a feeling of urgency caused me to increase my speed in the nearly deserted streets. An inexplicable feeling of dread had settled into my chest when I came to the realization that my Princess could still change her mind and decide it would be more prudent to go home with that nasty excuse for a boy. I needed to leave this place behind as quickly in case she had a change of heart. As we weaved our way out of town I tried to stay off the main road and away from prying eyes. It was unlikely that someone would recognize the girl concealed by the dark helmet, she was not even a resident of this town, but I did not want to risk running into someone she knew. Someone other than the hated Sam, a person who would not raise her temper; she might be eager to decline my offer of a ride for one from an acquaintance.

We had almost managed to escape from the town completely when we hit one last red light. I felt rather than heard her take in a big breath in anticipation of speaking. The fear began to increase so much inside of me that the stress was starting to leach into my body, it took all of my resolve not to tense my muscles. Despite my best attempts to stay calm my hearts were beating far too fast and if I was not careful the double heartbeat might betray my alien nature.

"Where are we going?" The relief at her simple words was nearly overwhelming. I wanted to laugh and shout with joy. She was not abandoning me yet. Her question had been delivered at a normal conversational volume, giving the impression that she was not used to riding motorcycles. I hoped to change this in the future, motorcycles and the speed associated them were a pleasure I wanted to share with my potential mate. Pretending not to hear her through the thick padding of both our helmets I waited impatiently to be moving again.

"Where are we going?" she asked again, this time loud enough that I could not feign ignorance especially when she coupled that with letting go of my waist in order to poke my shoulder.

"Now you ask me?" avoiding question without rousing suspicions was a skill I had mastered over a millennia ago. I did not hesitate to accelerate as soon as the light turned green and to my immense pleasure her hand went back around my waist. If I was going to be honest with myself our destination was not altogether decided.

The sensible move was to point my bike in a generally northwestern direction, this way we would hit the coastline and find the placid Pacific. The weather was cool enough to guarantee privacy in most outdoor places as no one would bother going to the beach today - the quickly increasing precipitation would make this very poor beach weather for humans. My distraught Princess was definitely not in the mood for company right now so taking her to a crowded place would be detrimental to my courtship. Though that was not the correct word to use at this time - both Blossom and Phila had forbidden me from pursuing a romantic relationship. I understood the need to take things slowly with Leah, life had dealt her a great many blows in the past few months. Despite the increased fortitude the werwolf genes she was in some ways a fragile little girl - one who missed her deceased father and could not connect with her remaining parent. I did not envy her these feelings, I could not begin to imagine losing one of my parents. For this reason alone I needed to be the strong one and set a slow and steady pace, this was harder to accomplish than I had anticipated; my body had been in a perpetual half aroused state since my first glimpse of her ass and now that she had her arms wrapped around me it had become a little more than just half aroused.

While taking her to a deserted beach would be more prudent there was a large part of me that wanted to simply take her away. In a few hours we could be in Seattle, after that Canada, and if I was going to go that far I might as well take her home to the island. My Princess was stuck inside of her tower surrounded a barrier made not of bricks but something much more sinister - unhappy memories. The people and places of this area brought forth many emotions, most of which she attempted to smother using fury. It was not a healthy place for her to be, the festering mental wounds would continue to build and fill with poison if she did not acknowledge their presence. With one emergency after another this summer it was easy to see how she avoided dealing with the demise of her father as well as the other losses she had experienced.

I wanted to rescue her from the people who gave her orders with little to no regard for her feelings, Sam had pushed her to the point of violence. This was a major red flag that should have been noticed by those around her but they were either inept or not paying attention. Wolves were more volatile than humans, the young ones especially tended to express their emotions by way of violence. This was not a problem when it came to boys, teenage males were disposed to being a rough crowd. The issue was that Leah was a female and it took a great deal of duress for a woman to throw a punch at a man. Normally this society trained women to use words or a man to protect themselves, Leah had been pushed to the brink and the only way she could survive was by lashing out physically at the man who sought to harm her. She had even gone so far as to try to escape with a total stranger, though some of that might have been her temper overruling reason. As much as enjoyed the fact that she had chosen me it was alarming that she had jumped on the back of a bike with a stranger. Leah needed serious help from a professional, Uncle William on the island would have been perfect. She could have been fully honest with him regarding what had really happened, while a human doctor could not even begin to understand her problems.

My resolve to take her to the beach wavered as I continued to add to the reasons why taking her to the safety of the island would be ideal, the situation with the Volturi did not help. In a few months time they would bring an army bend on destroying most of the Cullens and anyone who got in their way. As a wolf whose duty it was to protect this region my princess would be in the middle of this, and since the Volturi absolutely hated wolves she might as well wear a big red target on her back.

The safest option would have been to take her home to the island and protect her from everything. If I took her home she would have all the time in the world to gain perspective on her world, she could be taught the tools to deal with her temper as well as the losses in her life. She could be properly taught to fight by true warriors and not by foolish young children playing around. What did this Sam really know of strategy? Just because he was the first to phase did not magically gift him with tactical skills. Blood drinkers could be tricky because of their speed and intelligence, we were taught to kill them by practical experience. There was a wild planet that housed a prison for several of the toughest creatures that we could face. As part of our training one of these creatures would be released into the wilderness and we would be expected to hunt them down. The vampires were great because when you were finished all you had to do was put the pieces back together and you could recycle them for another set of students. Eventually though the vampire would give up and not try to run or fight, that was when we burned them.

The wolves had nothing of this sort to train their new recruits, instead they had Sam giving them orders that would cause severe pain if refused. I gripped my hand against the handles, trying to remind myself why it was wrong to take Leah away from all this. One though alone saved her from being kidnapped, if I were to take her to the island against her will I too would be taking away her choices and that in itself would make me no better than Sam. Leah would be allowed to decide her own fate, and when the time came perhaps she could be compelled to come home with me to the island. Conceivably she might be able to be persuaded to make the island her home, permanently, with me. The decision to let her pick was much harder than it should have been, all my instincts were screaming at me to protect her and make her feel better. I distracted myself by imagining her reaction to being taken to the island, unfortunately I would not gain the knowledge of her reaction today.

My little Princess would have to remain in this dark place for a while longer, but that did not mean I could not help guide her towards the brighter sections of the shadows that covered her small world. Speaking of the brighter spots, it was an interesting observation that every time I sped up the girl's arms would tighten around my waist, she would move forward slightly and her grip would strengthen. There was a direct correlation between my speed and how much she resembled a barnacle.

A gentleman would have slowed down in order to make her more comfortable, unfortunately for Leah chivalry was not really my thing. I was enjoying her arms around me a great deal too much. Even with four layers of clothing between us I could feel the heat radiating from her slight body as we followed the serpentine path through the woods.

The town was a good ten minutes behind us when I felt the change, her entire body which had been completely tense relaxed and molded itself more comfortably against my back. I might have only imagined the small sigh that left her lips, the wind was far too loud for even my acute hearing to discern such a slight sound. I barely suppressed my shout of victory, it might have been premature but maybe she had gained a few moments of joy out of the ride.

The celibate life of a monk was not for me, indeed I enjoyed sex a little too much; over the years I had been in the arms of my fair share of women. Aodh would not allow me to stay with any one woman so I had enjoyed a large variety of women, a an extremely large variety from the shy meek ones, the bold older matrons as well as the professional ladies of the night. Society these days looks down upon a man who pays for sex but there was a time not so long ago when it was impractical to get sex without paying for it. The practiced embraces of those highly trained women had not given me a tenth of the pleasure that was currently flowing through my body at the simple fact that my mate had her arm around my waist and her chin resting on my shoulder. While I enjoyed her arms around me, it was the knowledge that I had managed to help her forget her problems for a few moments that gave me the greatest satisfaction. I was upset at the stupid helmet and wished it was not required at these speeds since I dearly wanted to see her face. Had she lost her perpetual frown? If it was not for that annoying barrier would I have been able to see that smile I coveted?

Resigning myself to having to live without knowing the truth I pushed the engine to move a little faster, a quick flash of a vision revealed a potential beach close by. Aodh continued flashing images at me every thirty seconds or so, trying to compensate for my poor sense of direction. Maybe my spirit succeeded in directing me or it could be sheer luck but I successfully navigated my way to the water.

She untangled herself as soon as we stopped, her relaxed body suddenly filled with a hectic energy that screamed of desperation. It took everything in me to ignore the girl and instead look at our surroundings, at this time she did not need my hovering presence. I doubted she would welcome my embrace.

What she needed was another distraction, schooling my face into a look of confusion I scanned the beach around us. This was fairly typical for the beaches of this area, nothing like the hot powdery sand that made up the ones that could be found outside of Los Angeles. This place was not where you went to work on your tan or to show off your new breast implants, instead here was a place you came to enjoy nature as the gods intended it to look.

"What are you looking for?" she asked falling for my ruse.

"The beach, did I read the sign wrong?" lacing my voice with a tinge of confusion I shook my head a little, pretending to be concerned over the fact that we were missing the blinding sand that managed to get into every crevice you could think of. No matter how romantic sex on the beach sounded in theory, the reality was not altogether that much fun because sand was not a good lubricant.

I pretended to be not at all that interested in her words, a blatant lie but now was not the time to show my cards. Years of training allowed me to move causally and pick up a piece of paint that had fallen from the neglected picnic table. I allowed the tension to flow only through my arm, vented my frustration at not being able to console her in a more physical way.

"This is a beach," she told me with a small laugh. The quiet sound surprised us both, she looked up at me uncertainly perhaps wondering if that rusty sound had come out of her throat. My impression was that the pat few months had not giver her much to laugh about, it seemed she was out of practice. I had managed to make her giggle, a great deal of pride that was out of proportion with the small feat of making her laugh flooded my body. In the past few days of stalking her no one had come even close to making her smile let alone laugh, perhaps her brother but even he had not been able to elicit her laughter. I allowed myself another small peek at her face, for a fraction of a second the perpetual frown was replaced by a slight lifting of her cheeks. It was not quite a smile but it was enough to satisfy me for now. Her pretty brown eyes sparkled, filled with mirth at my expense. I wanted nothing more than to join in that laughter but that would have been out of place, instead I allowed myself a small smile.

Locking my muscles against the need to touch her again I leaned down to obtain another piece of ammunition. I would have to be careful to use only human strength when throwing my projectile. She gracefully climbed to the top of that rock, her slender toes gripping the jagged edges of the stone in her ascent to the top. It was amazing how much this small girl attracted me, having just heard her laugh I wanted more; soon several plans began to form in my mind, my intent was to hear that beautiful sound over and over again.

It astonished me how little discipline I had over my impulses, after throwing one last piece of paint at the stone across the water I headed in her direction. Not wanting to crowd her I remained at the bottom of the stone, her body had regained its earlier tension. Her peace had only lasted a few minutes, she was lost again in her dark thoughts. Physically she was standing high on a rock, staring out across the water but I did not need to use my mind reading skills to know that thoughts were elsewhere. Her distraction was an opportunity to observe her, for once I did not feel like a pervert when watching her. Her short cropped hair had become soaked in the drizzle and was now plastered to her shapely head. Leah was one of a minority of women who could carry off the wet hair look, she did not need to hide flaws behind bangs or curls. Nor did she need make-up or other such devices because her complexion was absolutely pure and clear of any defects. I wanted to run my fingers across those high cheekbones, would they really be as sharp as they looked? I never thought that ears were all that sexy but the small cinnamon colored shells beckoned for a kiss or possibly a taste.

She reminded me of a figurehead at the front of a ship, still and motionless as she faced the oceans of life - constantly being buffeted by the waves. What would she do if I stood next to her and promised I would always be by her side no matter what? Would she welcome my embrace or try to push me off of her perch?

It was with much pain that that I noticed the shift in her demeanor, it was verging on despair now. One so young had not lived enough to be this miserable. That did not change her emotions, I looked around for a way to distract her.

"That is an awesome right hook you got there Princess." I smiled at the name, she would not appreciate me calling her that. "Remind me not to piss you off," while this society might not like violence I had no problem with it, my only fear was that she had done it out of desperation. Despite that I could still admire her for the hit, had her fist connected with that Sam creature's face it would have done serious damage.

It took her a moment to reply but when she did it was with a smile, even though she tried to hide it from me I could see the lifting of those pretty cheeks. "A little piece of advice then, don't call me Princess." She made a face at the name I had chosen for her, she disliked being called that.

"What would you like me to call you then?" I was much better at hiding my smile, but now when her face distracted me. Looking away I tried to compose myself, it would not help to smile right now and give away my game. I did not look at her when she spoke again, wanting me to call her by her given name. My Princess had missed the point, Princess was her name and it had been such almost from the moment I first saw her.

"Sorry, I have a hard time with names," I told her, relieved to note that the haggard look of despair had dissipated.

"But you can remember Princess? How is that?" Her voice had taken on a more playful tone, and so I replied in kind by pointing out her ability to throw a tantrum.

With a single leap she was off her rock and within a foot of me, eyes flashing with anger as she shouted out her denial of my observation. It was probably not the best choice to point out that she was indeed fond of throwing tantrums but I could not help myself but tease her a little - one flick of my hand in her general direction to indicate her continued support of my statement. Otherwise I kept my face neutral, well aware of the volatile nature of wolves, she was still young and unable to control her mood swings. This characteristic was not one exclusive to the shapeshifting wolves, excessive emotions tended to go hand in hand with heightened senses. One set of my cousins could completely block all emotions, their kind were a product of and experiment that tried to push human emotions and intuition to the max - the results had been a very volatile and violent group that could not function as a society. The ones who had managed to survive this failed experiment ended up doing so by completely shutting off all feelings, it was an arduous task that many spent their entire lifetime struggling to perfect. Those of the Sedo who truly could clamp down and stop feeling were revered and held positions of great power among their people.

It was interesting to note that while the Sedo chose to suppress their violent tendencies my people went the opposite way. The ferocity of my father's people was legendary, the savagery of their society known across several planets. The man who had shared with them the space technology that allowed for travel between planets had been put to death for releasing such a scourge on the unsuspecting inhabited planets in the region. I could easily relate to Leah's volatile temper, having had to deal with it myself. While getting angry and punching through a wall was completely acceptable among my father's people on Earth it was somewhat of a faux pas.

It was my Uncle William who had helped me master my own temper, he was a Sedo and knew a few things about how to tamp down emotions. It is very hard to continue to be angry when there is no provocation, few of us without a great deal of internal turmoil will continue to rage if everything around us is calm. This is what I did for Leah at this time, employing all of my millennia of control I made sure to appear unperturbed despite the close proximity of a furious but at the same time sexy as hell woman.

Her face went through a myriad of emotions, the speed of the changes were so swift that it became impossible to discern the meaning behind them. After about a minute her face finally settled into one of concern. She had pulled her body back slightly and curved those beautiful shoulder downwards, was she anticipating a blow? I was tempted to search through her mind for answers but reading her thoughts felt disrespectful.

Hoping to bring back her earlier good mood and realizing that she had her temper in hand made me want to continue to tease her. "And the other reason to call you Princess, is you seem to require a lot of rescuing."

"Ok just once, but don't let it go to your head." The begrudging to tone of her voice was amusing. It appeared that my Princess had an independent streak a mile wide and did not want any prince charming coming along and rescuing her.

"I am under the impression that you would swiftly deflate any ego." It was becoming increasingly harder to appear apathetic, when what I really wanted was grab her and crush my mouth against those pale pink lips. I was willing to risk her breaking my jaw afterwords for one little taste.

"You may not call me Princess!" she yelled in my face once more. Her voice might have been raised but her expression looked much calmer than earlier. Those cute brown eyes were flashing and my will crumbled. Losing my tight grip on the profusion of emotions that had been coursing through my body ever since I had first seen her my smile broke through. After two thousand years I had finally found her, the woman my spirit had chosen to be my perfect mate. Since first seeing her a few days ago my Princess had been angry, mean, spiteful, nasty and sarcastic - a lesser man would have been unnerved by such a display. I was not a mere mortal, in fact for the first time in my very long life I was thoroughly in love.

"All right... Princess." I continued to smile hoping she would not think I was laughing at her. Leah capitulated with a sigh. I decided it was best to change the topic before I did something stupid like call her 'my Princess' and try to steal a kiss. She did not acknowledge the change in topic instead looked away from me yet again, this would have been frustrating had it not given me the opportunity to stare at her once again. I was acting like a completely infatuated puppy.

Taking her home was one of the hardest things I had done ever, my every instinct screamed at me to turn the other way and take her to the safety of the island. It did not help to know that the detestable Sam would be waiting for us when we reached our destination.

The reservation was easy enough to reach, again the lack of choices helped me navigate. The speed with which we took the rather slick roads was dangerous but Aodh and I were working in conjunction to make sure to keep Leah safe. Aodh would warn me right before we would hit a slick spot and I would use my skills to prevent an accident. We were traveling at higher speeds than before, I was determined to help Leah get back to those carefree moments she had experienced on our first ride. Again I enjoyed the feel of her slim body pressed up against mine, she had relaxed against my back much faster than before. I was a thief and a liar, stealing this small embrace and deluding myself into thinking it was something more than her holding on for dear life. For a few minutes I could pretend she thought I was something more than a stranger, the feel of slender arms around me was addictive.

There was only one road into the reservation, an old faded sign marked the border of the place. The first bifurcation of the road resulted in me taking the wrong turn, this was done on purpose as she had given me poor instructions and as an outsider I would not know the way to her home. I was not far enough gone in my infatuation to forget the almost instinctual need to keep my secrets.

She tapped on my shoulder again, this being her preferred method of gaining my attention and pointed her thumb back towards the other road. My u-turn was done swiftly, we were supposed to be racing to get her home before Sue Clearwater. It amused me to no end that this girl would face a vampire army of newborns yet was afraid of her mother's disapproval.

After a few more missed turns and going down a dead end street Leah finally got her thoughts together and noticed that it would be best to tell me which direction to go at every turn. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her slightly shaking her head as she softly giggled. This helmet might have to be permanently glued to my head because I could not help but smile at the slight sound - it would not do to reveal how much each and every sign of her good mood effected me.

Sam's thought's became audible before we had even reached the house. While I tried to stay out of Leah's head, Sam was not given the same courtesy. The content of his thoughts was vital, how else was I to intervene when he did something to upset my princess? Currently his mind was filled with a hodgepodge of thoughts, flying from paranoia regarding my intentions to the lecture he was planning on giving Leah when she arrived back. His disorderly mind was not helping me anticipate his next moves and Aodh was silent regarding Sam's future behaviour.

The tension slowly crept back into Leah's body as I turned onto the empty driveway, Sue Clearwater was still socializing with Chief Swan. So that was one less problem for Leah to face right now. I stopped much attention to Sam instead concentrating on the girl in front of me, she appeared reluctant as she handed the helmet back to me. Was it too early to tell her to keep it? Probably, but that did not mean I did not want to. I watched my brave girl square her shoulders and take a deep breath before turning around to face wolf pacing on her home's front porch.

"Where have you been?" It took everything in me not to go kick his ass when he greeted her with an accusatory shout. _Note to self, keep Leah away from Sam for both our sakes. Between Leah and I, one of us was going to kill this little boy._ It was becoming increasingly hard to come up with reasons to leave the boy alive.

"Just go home Sam," I hear Leah say quietly. My body tensed at the sound, this was not right. When she was arguing with me there was a little bit of frustration and some amusement in her voice. Now her face looked haggard, she appeared pressed down by a larger burden than a nineteen year old girl should be carrying.

I had to intervene, but kicking the boys ass would look suspicious. I went with the only alternative I had. "I was worried about your daddy with a shotgun, I must say this scenario never crossed my mind," I tried to inject a little bit of levity into the situation. I wanted my fighting Leah back.

"Fortunately for you my daddy was a fisherman, and not that much into hunting. But that does not matter, my father died a few months ago. So the risk of you being shot by my daddy is pretty low," she tried to continue the joke. It was easy to see through her feeble attempts at the joke, her attempts though increased my respect for her. While this depression might have pulled her into the dark abyss she was still fighting to get out. Once again I had to forcefully clear my face of emotion before I gave away too much of my feelings, this was getting to be ridiculous I had not been this out of control since I was a twenty five and all of my powers came in full force.

"What about your family?" she asked ignoring the boy behind him.

"My family?" Lost in admiration for her tenacity despite her lack of progress, I foolishly gave her an honest answer. "Yeah they would shoot you if I brought you home. Nothing personal, my mother does not like people." This was somewhat of a lie, my mother would love her simply because I had chosen her, but she would shoot anyone else. No one other than family was allowed on the island, so my mother would kill for security reasons. "She would not use a shotgun, she would probably use a sniper rifle, just to make sure you were dead." My mother was the one who had helped design the bullets that could penetrate the hard skin of the blood drinkers, she took her weapons seriously.

"Is your father still alive?" Her pink lips twisted upwards making me want to smile in return.

"My father?" I pulled myself together this time making sure to tell the truth without giving too much away. It was harder than it should have been, my mind was scrambling trying to find the words to turn her half-smile into a real one. "Oh yeah he is still alive. He has tried several novel ways of committing suicide but fortunately for him they never seem to work. He calls it part of being an adrenaline junkie. Luckily we tend to be a long lived bunch - good genes and all that jazz - we rarely get sick." Really good genes that make us immortal, and the alien technology that was far beyond anything on Earth helped us remain at peak performance. "Well we had a few die young but usually they were from "unnatural" causes, if you know what I mean. For example, my grandfather died very heroically saving a young girls life." The irony of it was lost to Leah, she did not know my grandfather had been a politician and a King. She did not know that Garath had not been one to notice individuals but had always focused on groups of people. It was almost amusing that he had died to save one young girl, who in the end turned out to be somewhat of a useless individual.

"That is nice, well kind of. Your family must be proud." She replied in a hesitant voice, sounding almost polite.

"Not really, my grandmother was furious with him for dying on her. Sometimes I think he died just to get away from her." She was angry because she was pregnant with triplets at the time and he had decided to do something impulsive and foolish when his family needed him. I sometimes wondered if my mother would have turned out differently had her father been around to raise her, though from my Uncle Michael's accounts he had not been a very attentive father. Preferring to take care of his people as opposed to his children.

Leah made a confused sound bringing me back to the present.

"Grandma has a few quirks, but who doesn't when you get as old as she is?" She was over ten thousand years old, allowances had to be made.

"Maybe you should go visit her, she might be missing you?" Sam's grating voice was an unwelcome interruption.

"I just visited her a few days ago, she was doing great, still as sharp as ever. She did commend me for taking some time off work to relax. Life is short and all that." I had no choice but to tell her about Leah, she had again reiterated the fact that she wanted the Cullens and wolves to be kept in the dark until after the Volturi had made their appearance. She then proceeded to tell me how to properly go down on a woman, it was a prank. At least I hoped so, at times her jokes bordered on juvenile.

Sam tried to get rid of me again, his mind riddled with implausible scenarios regarding my reasons for remaining. Seriously why the fuck would I want that annoying little Emily when I had Leah right here? It was impossible to understand how he could have possibly chosen Emily over Leah. His loss was my gain.

I ignored the boy and his ridiculous thoughts as I said my final goodbyes to my Princess.

"Bye Phil, thanks for the ride. It was fun, we might have to do that again." Leah waved me off pleasantly.

"Anytime, see you later." I replied while putting on my helmet, she had no idea that it would be much sooner than later. I was reluctant to leave her to deal with the boy alone, not that I was afraid he could physically harm her. Despite her smaller size Leah was vicious and underhanded enough to win a fight, plus her brother would be home soon and he would support his sister. I was afraid for her mental well being, just being away from him and this place that held such unhappy memories had made her appear happier than she had been in the past week.

I was headed back to the cabin, planning on dropping off my bike and changing into my stalking clothes before heading back to Leah. As I pulled into the garage Aodh hit me with a vision. A small boy with hunched shoulders was furiously pummeling the innocent ball against the side of a building. His dark hair was tangled around his dirty face, frustration evident in the square jaws.

It appeared my plans would have to be changed, I called Phila to tell her about them. "Can you watch Leah for tonight, it looks like my son needs his father to come visit."

"Why is there anything wrong?" While Phila could not understand my attachment to the boy I had rescued all those years ago, she had learned to just go along with my need to protect my son.

"I don't know, all I saw was my grandson and he looked upset. I will try to be back before the morning. Please watch over my Leah." I rubbed my temples, the building tension an indication that if I was not careful a severe headache would soon follow.

"Call me if you need me to join you," Phila's offer was less than genuine.

I could not help but laugh, "I don't need any added strife." My son absolutely loathed Phila, part of this might have been due to their first meeting. Phila had told me to slit the boy's throat and be done with it; her words might have sounded cruel but they were not intended as such. Phila was from an experiment that made it nearly impossible for her to feel empathy towards other, family was an exception to this rule but otherwise she was not bothered by the suffering of others. Telling me to kill the boy was good advice, and I should have probably done so considering he had no family left. I don't know what impulse made me take the boy in and raise him as my own, probably some deep seated need to connect to something and anything. A romantic relationship had beed denied to me due to Aodh, so I was going for the paternal one. Needless to say things had not always worked out as I anticipated because I had genes from that experiment, rendering me incapable of making a connection with those outside of my family.

* * *

A/N: All right what do you think? Please? With Phil on top of it? Naked Phil?

Princessx: Glad you like Phil, he is actually a very fun OC and sometimes even I forget that he is not part of the original story.

MargotTenser: I hope this helped showcase some of Phil's temperament, the next chapter is going to be much darker since I am trying to explain how little he feels for outsiders. I am afraid people will hate Phil if I do this but I want to show what it actually is for Phil to have connected with Leah. Part of the reason he pulls her to be alone together is because he is greedy but part of it is because he is afraid Leah will see how fake he is when around others.

Phil's Phan: Yeah Sam ordering everyone around made me angry as well, honestly I think he was at times either inept or just a bully.

MeMeMeMeeee: is it wrong that I think of Invader Zim whenever I see your name? Alpha order bad, taking away people's choices is something that irks me in real life.

Connect2tjb: I admit it is fun doing dark Phil sometimes. Trying to explain the change in his feeling is much harder than I thought. Next chapter is going to be helpful with that, I hope.

Hgmsnoopy: SNOOOPY, sorry I had to say that. In my opinion Sam is just a poor kid that was thrust into power and he does not have the experience or the personality to deal with it well.

Inosolan: Yes he is worried, I don't think Leah understands how much her presence in his life really means to him. It is also fun watching him struggle to control his reactions. Glad you like Phil's point of view.

Yenahcoral: Thanks for the message of encouragement.


	49. Adopted Family

6 - The Adopted Family

Foreseeing a great deal of drama in the next few hours I headed to the island for a shower and a quick change of clothes. This had become a common occurrence as of late, my life had started to resemble that of a chameleon, the constant flux of altering my appearance would have discomposed a younger man. Fortunately my next disguise was familiar, it was a role I had played for over thirty years - that of a father. I loosened some of the stranglehold I had on my temper, my next character was Vologhi and they were not known for their even temperament. As I put on the layers of rough fabric I went though my list of words, gestures and motivations that would allow me to "become" my next role. The smooth blade that normally resided in my boot was replaced by a much heavier one, this was more barbed so it would do maximum damage. My attitude would need to change as well, the cocky and amused biker was replaced by a grouchy old man.

Among humans our true personalities were never allowed to surface, the centuries of living made us deep and dark as an ocean. The poor vision of mortals would allow them to penetrate a very shallow portion of our minds, they would never be allowed to see the hundreds of meters churched below that placid surface. Occasionally to save our own sanities and to add some authenticity to our lies we would let small piece of our true selves bubble up to the top - lies were always more believable when there was a smidgen of fact weaved amongst the fabrications.

The island was our sanctuary, it was a place where we could shed all the masks, where we could afford to relax our constant vigilance. The island was an oasis where the duties and responsibilities of a guardian could be forgotten - away from this retreat we continually measured our every gesture and word. This constant did take its toll, sometimes we would get into our characters so deeply that it took weeks if not moths to come back to ourselves. This was the cost of living among humans undetected, the alternative was for them to know the truth which would inevitably lead to fear and violence. Fortunately our assignments lasted thirty or forty years, this meant we did not switch roles too often and with the added luxury of stepping our of time we were able to take breaks between assignments.

Time was not on my side now, an unplanned visit to see my son could cause problems if I did not make it quick; normally when family was on a planet together we tended to stay on the same time schedule. It would have been rude to disrupt Tiffany and Angus in the south just because Aodh kept throwing visions in my direction. Normally when I went to see my son I would spend a week or two with him and then jump a week ahead in time when I went back to Earth. I could not do that during this visit, first and foremost I needed to be around Leah. No one, not even my son was more important than her well being. She needed a friend right now and I was not about to disappear on her for an extended amount of time. If I was going to be honest with myself I was counting down the hours until the next time I could "accidentally" bump into her again.

The stale room I jumped into was empty of all life but my own, Aurora had scanned to confirm that this building was vacant before my entrance but it was always best to double check, an excess of caution regarding appearances had kept the family secrets hidden for millennia.

"Aurora, scan for human life," I spoke quietly, not wanting to be overheard in case someone else was here with me. I used my own senses to test my surroundings while waiting for the results of her seconds scan.

A generous layer of dust coated every surface of the room, but that was to be expected since most people did not expend a great deal of energy cleaning their attics. This was not technically a living space, the three bedrooms below me were more than enough for one man, this area had been used for nothing more than storage. Boxes filled with what once was considered too precious to throw away were pushed up against the unfinished walls nearly touching the exposed beams of the roof. Closer to the middle of the room stood an old table with only three legs, despite my phenomenal memory I could not recall why that thing was put up here instead of into the trash where it belonged. Next to that was an electronic device that my son had gutted during one of his experiments when he was around sixteen, old boots that I was pretty sure had several holes in their soles, as well as some broken toys. These formally treasured items now sat forgotten as time slowly worked them into nonexistence. Seeing such signs of decay always reminded me of the dualism of immortality, it was both a gift and a curse. Most of the time I was able to sit back and watch in contempt as the mortals scurried about doing nothing, it was amazing how many of them squandered the handful of decades they were given on useless pursuits. Infrequently I was shocked by the loss and the swiftness of the passage of time - something would hold my interest but all too soon it would be consumed by the indiscriminate jaws of time.

One box had a fist sized jagged hole in the side, old clothing spilled from within; an industrious creature had build some sort of nest inside. I really hoped they were no longer around because in my current mood their eviction might be a very bloody affair.

One benefit of the fine grey powder that coated everything was that anyone walking around would leave a set of footprints, only a single set was present and it was my own from my last visit. Confirming Aurora's initial scans about the emptiness of this room I reached further out. My senses might not be as well developed as that of a werewolf but they were acute enough to verify that I was alone in the house. This was not a surprise, my son had moved out over twenty years ago when he had gone off to further his education. No one lived here but the prickly old man that had once been a healer but had given up that career about five years ago in order to travel the planet for the remaining few years of his life. He was not all that old, only sixty five or so but this was a harsh world that would eventually break even the strongest of individuals.

On this planet it was imperative that you did not appear too weak or old, otherwise people would "help" you move onto the other side so that you could enjoy the eternal banquet that was the reward of every good Vologhi.

Someone would be in for a very unpleasant surprise if they tried to "help" the old man that occupied this home, he did not really exist instead it was just my current role - I was not yet ready to move on and would be forced to kill the person who saw through the disguise of the old man. Soon I would stage my death probably in some glorious suicide, for the humans on Earth suicide was a no-no but here it was embraced as a part of life. Some men spent their entire retirement trying to come up with an elaborate way to die, it was very sad when they had the heart attack at the dinner table instead. If you could die in a really awesome and dangerous way it would boost the honor of your family name and could potentially open doors for your descendants. Dying in your bed of old age was not the way you wanted to leave this world.

"Maybe a fight with a Gudag," these were some of the fiercest beasts that roamed this planet. "It would be even better if I actually killed it, and then died of the wounds." Unfortunately it would have looked suspicious if a man in his sixties killed the eight foot tall creature. It would not be that much of a challenge for me, but as far as everyone here was concerned I was nothing more than an old healer - only the strongest of warriors went after such creatures.

My footsteps kicked up a cloud of dust as I headed for the trap door in the center of the room that was the only way down into the house. The dust tickling my nose was starting to be unpleasant, maybe it was time to clean out this place - but not today, now I had to go check out what Aodh was trying to show me. Hopefully I could wrap this up in a few hours, already this nervous feeling was starting to build up in my chest. Being away from Leah was a lot harder than I had anticipated, having known her only for a week of my two thousand years it should not have been this hard to leave her. I just wanted to know how she was, and if she was doing all right.

Had she been able to rid herself of that pesky boy? or had he remained to cause more trouble for her? It had been a little over an hour ago that I had left her on the front porch of her mother's house, was it possible that I overestimated her abilities? She might have been a werewolf but she was also extremely young and in an emotionally vulnerable state that would make her an easy target. This feeling of weakness was new for me, while Phila and I had been in some precarious situations this fear was different. Phila was a highly trained guardian who was both cunning, ruthless and strong with centuries of training. I had never before cared about anyone outside of my family, Leah was not like them, she was not trained to deal with any situation. Leah was exposed to the world, with absolutely no training and expected by her tribe to fend off attacks from other supernatural creatures. The small pack of wolves were not prepared to fight off a true threat, the Volturi would make kibble bits out of them in a battle. The mere though of what was coming for Leah in December made me nearly break out in hives. I was practically wringing my hands with worry, for a moment I wanted to reach back and kick my own ass. How had I become this pathetic? I was glad my brother Myles was not here, he would have ripped off my balls because apparently I no longer needed them.

I needed to pull myself together, being this distracted would get me seriously hurt or killed in this town. I stopped for a moment and closed my eyes, immediately Aodh showed me a picture of Leah smiling. "You are not helping you bastard," I told it under my breath, "anyway it is your fault we are here and not with her." It was a futile effort, Aodh never replied and usually just kept on throwing the same image in my direction until I fulfilled its request. Ignoring the pretty smile on the backs of my eyelids took all of my skills, but it was necessary in order to make this trip as short as possible.

Not bothering to get into character as of yet I soundlessly dropped down into the upstairs hallway. Several coats of paint had been added to the wall over the years along with an increasing number of pictures of my son from the age of four on up. He had always been a runt, the only thing that prevented him from being killed by the other kids was his determination; that and the fact that for some reason the local kids were scared shitless of me. I could not imagine why they acted this way. It had nothing to do with the one time I picked up the strongest one of the bunch and described to him how easily it was to skin a person alive. Over thirty years later that kid still gave me a wide berth whenever he saw me in the street, my message must have been clearly understood but then I had allowed him to see the predator that lurked under the veneer of a healer trying to raise a poor orphaned boy.

The entire house was dimly lit by the meager amounts of daylight coming through the small windows, my preference would have been for lager windows but a wall of nothing but glass was unheard of in these parts. So I had to make due with lots of artificial light, not altogether pleasant but it was necessary for fitting in. In the end everything came down to that, keeping the secret at any expense - and yeah most of the time it sucked.

The wall of windows would not have helped much, this planet was relatively young and the tectonic plates had not settled as much as Earth, this translated into a great deal of earthquakes and volcanic activity. It would behoove me to have Aurora check the structural integrity of the house, even the smaller earthquakes would eventually take their toll on the brick and mortar, this vital upkeep was not going to happen today. Heading down the stair I started to move like the old man I was supposed to be, my steps more cautious, my back not as straight. The old back door had a walking stick next to it, a retirement gift from my son. It was a gag gift, he liked to joke that even in my old age I could still take him down. I ignored the prop, instead throwing open the bolts before opening the creaking door.

It would not do to linger long in this abandoned home, I had a grandson to check on as well as a mate to get back to. The air outside was filled with the strong scent of brimstone and ash, it seemed one of the volcanos had erupted again. The large raindrops left a stinging trail as they hit my face, all the ash that the volcanoes dumped into the atmosphere made acid rain a common occurrence around these parts. I lifted the collar of my coat and pulled my hat a little further down as I walked down the street at a brisk pace, my large stride eating up the distance to my son's home. I had bought him this house as a wedding present, newly wedded couples needed their space - it would not have been good for their marriage to have a grouchy old man puttering around their house while they were trying to have sex on every flat surface. Or at least that is what I told my son when he thanked me for the gift. The house itself was well built and due to its location slightly outside of the town it had more land and therefore afforded a great deal more privacy. The previous owner had left it in poor repair but the amount of land involved had made the property worth the purchasing price.

The proximity of the house to my own home was merely coincidence, it had nothing to do with the fact that I did not think him capable of taking care of himself. So if for the first two years I went on a great many walks whose path took me by his house it had nothing to do with me wanting to check on him; though while I was in the neighborhood it did not hurt to walk up his driveway to see how my son and his wife were doing.

It did not take me long to reach my son's property, the sound of pounding was the first sign that something was not altogether right, the staccato noise was coming from one of the side buildings. My son called it his workshop but it was mainly used to store old and broken tools. Walking around the slightly leaning building I located the reason for the noise.

The small abused ball being kicked against the wall is what had caused the sound that had garnered my attention. It was the exact picture Aodh had shown me few hours ago.

"Kiriki," I called out to the abuser. Either my grandson was choosing to ignore me or he was concentrating too hard on his current task to have heard my approach. I was going to go with the latter, he was kicking that ball with far too much vehemence. The rage pouring out of that small body was concerning, while he tended to be far too serious for a boy who had not even seen ten summers, usually he was much more careful with his possessions.

'Kiriki," I repeated the nickname, "what is the matter?"

He jumped a little at the sound of my voice, he missed the kick and the ball disappeared into the thick foliage. "Nothing," he told me after a few moments, not bothering to turn around and greet me. This must have been the reason Aodh was showing me the visions, usually Kiriki greeted me with a great deal more enthusiasm. I waited for him to retrieve his ball before trying to start up a conversation.

"I brought you something," I told him while digging through my pockets for the sweets. If you wanted the distinction of being the favorite grandfather you never showed up without some form of bribe. I had held the title of the greatest grandfather for several years now, it also helped to outlive your competition.

The crinkle of the candy wrapper caught his attention and he finally turned towards my direction. His face was a little dusty but so were his clothes, I was willing to bet his school uniform had not been as messy when he had dressed this morning. He eyed the candy with a great deal of speculation. The little brat was planning to make a grab for the candy, too bad his grandfather still had great reflexes.

"You never told me what was the matter," I held the treat just out of reach as he attempted to jump for it. "Oh and I want my hug."

"Hugs are for babies, and I am not a baby." He told me with a sneer twisting his face.

"Well I am too old and I only have a limited number of hugs left," I told him while opening my arms. It took him a few seconds to look away from the candy before he jumped into my arms. I hugged his small body next to mine, not caring that he was getting my own clothes dirty - it was a small price to pay. There was something so pure about such and innocent embrace, like a newborn kitten - all sorts of potential, not yet corrupted by the trials of life.

"You are not too old, Tata." His voice was muffled against my chest. "You will live forever and never die."

The comment caught me unawares and I was unable to prevent my body from stiffening in response. Out of the mouths of babes, little did he know how true his words actually were. One day, not so far in the future I would get to feel the pain of burying Kiriki - hopefully it would be many decades before that would happen but the lives of mortals at times lasted less than a blink in comparison to my kind. I would not feel the severe loss of a grandson for that was beyond my capabilities in his case, but people still grieved when they lost a beloved pet. Quickly shoving those morbid thoughts into the back of my mind I tried to figure out what was going on here and now. I pulled away from him and kneeled down in order to look into his eyes.

"Now tell me what is wrong," my tone was clearly stating that I would not put up with any equivocating.

"Mother is sick, again." He mumbled slightly under his breath, his voice implied that the situation should be obvious.

"Well if your mother is sick why are you out here all by yourself? Where is your father?" I asked as softly as possible starting to suspect what the problem was, my daughter-in-law Grilka was generally one of the healthiest people I knew except for one glaring exception.

"Father is gone again, he is following another lead somewhere up north," so much resentment leaking out of such a small body was not a pleasant sight to behold.

The temptation to kick my son's ass was almost overwhelming, had he been here I would have probably done some damage to his worthless hide. Though there would be no need for violence if he was here taking care of the family he claimed to care about so much. I might not be capable of feeling the love of a father towards the boy but that did not mean I was going to neglect my duties as a parent.

"Hmm," I made the noncommittal sound while quickly assessing the situation. "How about we go inside and get something to eat, the long walk from my house has made me really hungry. I need you to cook something for me. Maybe afterwards if you are a good enough cook I will give you the candy." I caught one of his small hands and pulled him towards the house. My daughter-in-law, Grilka, and I were going to have a chat, very soon and I would be the one doing most of the chatting.

* * *

"What in the name of Kr'aks' gonads are your trying to do?" I was whisper shouting, beyond furious at the pale woman sitting down on the chair. Grilka looked like shit, and I knew exactly the reason for it. Her hands were weakly gripping the sides, trying to keep herself in a sitting position.

"There is no need to raise your voice, I just don't feel well right now." Grilka cringed in her chair, afraid that I would hit her. In this might makes right society it would have been within my rights to hurt her if she had displeased me. Despite her obvious fears I would never hurt a hair on her head, she had gained my protection when she had married my son but she did not need to know that.

"Not feeling well? Do I look to be in the mood to be considering your tender constitution?" I was practically roaring but it was all at a whisper. I had just spent the hour reading to Kiriki, this was after feeding and bathing him - he had only fallen into a restless sleep fifteen minutes ago. As much as I would have enjoyed bellowing at the foolish girl it was not worth waking up her son.

"You don't understand," she told me her skin sallow and wan. Even her dark skin was not enough to hide the circles under her eyes.

"I don't understand that you have been told by several healers that you cannot carry any more children? Not understand that despite of the fact that you have already lost three of them you continue down this ill-advised path?" Grilka wanted children, but her body would not carry them. The fact that she managed to give birth to Kiriki was a miracle in itself, she had not even managed to carry him to full term.

"You don't understand," she repeated her words, this time with a little more force. "I want children." She too was getting angry now, today was my day for arguing with women. Pushing Leah's buttons had been a turn-on, it made my heart pound and my chest nearly burst with pride as she verbally pushed back. Quarreling with Grilka yielded nothing but frustration, how hard was it to listen to my advice? My opinion was not one I shared often, wanting for my son Kalim to find his own way in the world, but as of late both he and Grilka had been so caught up in their own needs that they had neglected their duties to Kiriki.

"You have a child, and he spent most of the afternoon upset. His mother cannot find the time to give him food because she is too busy trying to make his replacement." The fact that I could not yell was making me even more aggravated.

"You know that is not true," her temper was giving her a little more strength. That was nice because yelling at someone who was already lying on the ground left a bad taste in my mouth.

"It does not matter what I think. What is more important is that your child, the one that you brought into this world believes that you are trying to replace him."

A look of regret crossed her face before it was replaced by anger, "you don't know anything about it. You never had a child of your own, but had to steal one."

I schooled my features into one of calm, arguing with the foolish woman would not help me get back to my Leah any faster. It was much easier to calm down when Leah was not around distracting me. Grilka had no idea how close she had come to the truth, but that was irrelevant. It was obvious that nothing I said would make her understand how foolhardy her pursuit of another child was, nor would she comprehend the damage her stubbornness would do to her family. What I needed from her was information, maybe my son would be able to talk sense into her, but for that to happen I would first need to locate him.

"Speaking of worthless children, where has my witless son run off to now?" My impatience at being away from Leah made me more abrupt than usual, under normal circumstances I had more patience. Today was not feeling all that charitable, my eagerness to return to see my mate was making it hard to fake the compassion required of a caring father-in-law.

"He went to Culate, a small village a few days travel north of here. There were rumors about an infection in the area and he wanted to look into it." She told me through gritted teeth.

"Take care of my grandson," I told her already halfway out the door. I caught a look of surprise on her face at my abrupt departure. She did not say anything out loud, but her thoughts were filled with curiosity. Wondering why a man my age was in such a hurry. I made a mental note to come back when I was not so pressed for time, it would be best to smooth things over before she became to suspicious.

* * *

Using the regional technology to reach Culate would have taken more time than I had so I jumped instead, to avert suspicion from what would have been a far too quick journey I went one day into the future. Aurora had located a thicket of a few trees and bushes for me to jump to, it was enough to disguise my arrival.

Culate was not large enough to be called a village, it comprised of a dozen or so mud huts and the obligatory brewery/pub. The local industry consisted of a little bit of farming and a great deal of mining. Digging for ore was hard business and a majority of miners did not last more than a couple of years before leaving to find less dangerous work. With the constantly shifting plates cave-ins were far too commonplace and many a miner was buried alive while searching for precious ore.

I walked down the main road swinging the walking stick I had picked up when I went back home, heading for the centerpiece of this bustling metropolis - the pub was the likeliest place to locate my son. Unless you were really good friends with the locals all outsiders would obtain lodging and information from the pub.

The sounds emanating from the scarred and warped door were not particularly welcoming but this was standard for a pub, drunken brawls were the norm and would include half the patrons in the places with good reputations. Some men went to the pub for the fights more so than the drinks, a good bar fight would have been invigorating at this time and it would have helped relieve some of this tension building up in my shoulders. I had sent a quick message to Phila inquiring about Leah but she had not replied as of yet, half my attention was focused on the small silver phone nestled in the pocked next to my heart. I was waiting for that small buzz to indicate a reply.

The door in front of me flew open as someone was forcibly expelled from the building, for a moment I was impressed that a person got so violent that the barkeep actually threw him out - but all to soon I realized that the only thing violent about the man was his ability to vomit. Quickly dodging the man crawling around on the ground I stepped inside before the barkeep could slam the door shut. Locating my son took about the same amount of time as it took for my eyes to adjust to the dim interior.

He stood out as one of the best dressed individuals in the place, a distinction you did not want to have unless you enjoyed people constantly trying to rob you. He might as well have put a stab me here sign on his back, I had taught him better. He was cradling a large home made mug full of what was probably the best this place had to offer, his eyes on the grimy window.

His dark hair was pulled into a thick ponytail at the nape of his neck, it was once as black as a raven's wing but now it had several silver hairs that were visible even in the dim light. He face was thinner than usual, the dark circles under his eyes were a matching set for the ones of his wife, they were not a good indication. I did not take any measure to muffle the sound of my steps yet I was still able to walk up behind him and pop one on the back of his head.

"Bam, you are dead," I told him by way of greeting before sitting down on the rickety chair on the other side of the table he occupied. He jumped at the sudden blow and managed to spill half of his drink. From the smell of things it was not that much of a loss.

He opened his mouth to say something, he did not look surprised at my presence, Grilka must have warned him about my potential appearance.

"What do you want?" A woman growled from beside me interrupting my son's greeting.

I turned to examine her, she was surprisingly clean considering her surrounding, my stomach growled as a reminder that it had been a while since we ate and the small meal I had shared with Kiriki was not good enough. "Who does the cooking?" I asked suddenly ravenous.

She appeared confused at the question and had to pause before answering, "I do." She crossed her arms, waiting for me to challenge her. "Stop staring at them old man," she told me.

I had been looking at her clean hands and nails, they just happened to be resting on her chest. Honestly her breasts held little interest, they were nothing compared to the small but perky... _what the hell was I doing? I needed to focus and not keep thinking about my mate. _ "I will have some food, but only something you cooked." I gave her a smile, hoping that my dimples would make the process of obtaining my food faster.

"Do you want to eat? or just another drink?" she asked with a glance at my son, I was surprised to note that she did not offer to clean up the mess. Maybe she had realized a while back the keeping this pub clean was a Sisyphean task, hopefully her kitchens were closer in cleanliness to her hands.

"Another drink," my son gulped down the remainder of his ale before handing her the empty mug.

"Kalim, have you spoken to your wife lately?" I asked, his grimace confirming my earlier suspicions. "Well you also know that now would be a good time to start heading home."

"I was planning on it, there was just a really good lead here. Supposedly there were some infected killed in the area." His tone was a whine, but he kept his voice low. Dropping words like infected tended to make the natives panic, there was a good reason for this. If the word was mentioned enough times it would gander the attention of the hunters.

"Infected? Are you still on this foolish quest?" I asked with as much derision as I could muster. Appealing to his sense of logic had not worked in the past, neither had bringing up honor and what he owed to his family; I had nothing left but ridicule.

"There might be hunters here, I will find them." The gleam of his eyes reminded me of that of a zealot, nothing I could say would ever convince him not to continue his search. But I had to try, I had taken on the responsibility of being a parent to him and that is what I was going to do.

"You have not been able to locate them for the past twenty years, what makes you think you will find them now?" Crossing my fingers I hoped this would be another dead end.

"There were fresh kills, only a few days old." I could practically hear the excitement in his voice. "A man has agreed to meet me here and will lead me to the bodies."

"So what were you planning on doing once you found them?" I kept my voice full of ridicule. I did not want this foolish boy to find the so called hunters - they were in reality members of my family, if he were to attack them they might destroy him before they realized he was not infected. When the infection rates got too high sometimes it was best to kill first and ask questions after you set their corpse on fire. Though you could tell that you made a mistake because the non infected corpses stopped moving around once you cut off their heads. The nano machines that controlled the bodies continued to move them for a while after decapitation, the normal humans just lay there.

"I will make them tell me who murdered my parents and then I will find those bastards and gut them." His voice sounded ferocious, after thirty five years he still was determined to find the ones who had killed his parents.

He would never know the truth, that he had known their killer most of his life. His parents had been infected, I never knew why he had been spared that ghastly fate. I had found his parents easily enough, their minds screaming for relief from the torment of being infected. I had given them a swift death before noticing that the boy had been watching from behind a partially closed door.

A combination of loneliness and possibly guilt had forced me to break down and take in the child - guilt not over killing his parents but over the fact that I had massacred them without feeling guilty at all. I had been greedy and wanted that connection with another living creature, by the time I had ascertained that it was impossible for me to connect with someone outside of my family it had been too late to renege on my commitment. Kalim became my son, and logically he had the best that I could give him. His parents had been of a lower class and he had been elevated up in standing when I adopted him. Growing up he had available to him the best of everything, he never went hungry, he was always warm, and was given the best of educations. If I tended to be a little standoffish and aloof that could not be helped, a sense of responsibility rather than paternal affection made me look after him all those years. It was what still drove me to pay attention when Aodh showed me visions of Kalim and Kiriki.

I pulled myself together, Kalim needed another intervention. "Last time I checked the hunters were far better warriors than you, how exactly are you going to make them do anything. By letting them run you through with a blade?"

"I have been practicing for decades, I have the skills to take them down." He told me with determination. If stubbornness was a weapon Kalim could have ruled the world, unfortunately for him it would only get him killed.

There was no way to describe to him how poorly he would fare in a fight against a hunter at least not without revealing the source of my knowledge. An awkward silence developed between us as we stared each other down, his thoughts were filled with a sense of anticipation and excitement. He was convinced that this time would be different and he would finally locate the hunters.

Our lack of a conversation was interrupted by the appearance of my food, a combination of mushy grains and some sort of dried fruit. It looked clean enough and I was about to dig in when I saw Kalim stand up a little straighter. A person moving down the street had caught his attention, an older man with a surprisingly quick gait was coming in our direction, most of his face was covered by the brim of his hat but the snippet of leathery skin was a clue that he was one of the older residents of this area.

We both watched as he moved out of sight of the windows but Kalim did not relax, instead his head went towards the door, a look of expectation on his face. Less that a minute later the man came inside with an air of purpose, he pulled the knitted cap off of his head revealing sparse patches of white hair on his greasy head. The skin on the left side of his face was puckered and scarred, an old burn if I had to guess. The left eye was milky and glassy looking, making me suspect he was blind out of that eye. This man had been hard on his body, his gaunt and skeletal figure making me think he had not had a steady source of income for several years.

His gaze swiftly scanned the room before coming to rest on Kalim, I watched as both gave a small nod of acknowledgement before the old man started to head in our direction.

My spider senses started tingling, he was moving too gracefully for someone that old. The marks on his hands indicated a life in the mines, again not a life conducive to being this mobile. He should have been hunched over and broken, his joints should have been more stiff. As he weaved past the other patrons I did not look at him with the eyes of Kalim's father but rather those of a guardian.

I pushed my mind out, trying to pinpoint his thoughts in order to confirm my suspicions but there was nothing there. This was not impossible for a normal human, some people could naturally block us out but I was starting to suspect that he was not one of those rare individuals.

If my instincts were correct, Kalim was very close to finding a hunter. The only way for a man this old to move with such fluidity was because he was feeling no pain, the nanos attached to his peripheral nervous system would direct all his movements giving him far more grace than he would naturally have.

"Come...we...found...body...burnt," his words were slow and hesitant, almost like he was searching them out. After infection people took a hit to their speech quality, my guess was this man could not speak all that well before he was infected. While I was suspicious my duty forced me to make certain he was infected, so when my son stood to follow the man I reached for my walking stick in order to follow. I would be getting back to my mate a lot later than I had anticipated.

* * *

A/N: So what do people think of this new side to Phil? This is sort of a reflection of what Phil's interactions are with outsiders. I was attempting to highlight the difference between his treatment of Kalim and Leah. These next few months are about to be crazy time, so I am warning you updates for my stories will be few and far between. By the way thanks for everyone for putting me on alerts and favorites; it is very encouraging to see people are actually reading this story.

Inosolan: Sorry, no naked Phil in this chapter. Lol on the Sensitive pig, that sort of did describe Phil well.

MindEqualBlown: Phil's thoughts regarding Sam are slightly biased, plus it does not help that any time Sam goes around Leah the bullying and the fights begin. I am sort of thinking that if Leah ever starts a fight with someone Phil will make sure that she ends up the winner - that goes double for Sam. Promises of naked Phil later.

Princessx: There you go more Phil, like the name by the way :D.

Myoung228: I am considering doing some chapters of their future life but mainly I want to stick to things from Phil's point of view. It is kind of fun writing around an already established story; the challenge is to try to make it unique while staying within the limits of what Leah observed. I am still trying to think of the way Phil convinced Sue Clearwater to let him borrow her daughter for a while?

There you go, Phil and son bonding...all right not so much. As for The Edge with Seth and Sassy I am thinking about adding something really crazy so there is not much being added to that right now. Embry and Stephi's story might have to wait for a while, lol, if I ever do it.

Hgmsnoopy: Phil and patience don't always go hand in hand, but he is willing to do that if his Princess needs him to be patient. I am trying to go for what one of the reviewers aptly described as a 'sensitive pig' regarding Leah.

Connect2tjb: :D Thanks for all your support on this story.

Jamime2772: Whenever I write scenes Phil shares with Leah I have her side of the story right next to me as I try to integrate the two. I do have to stop myself from editing Leah's side of the story,

LinetteCullen: Lenny Kravitz, hmmm that would be a good description. Let me just google him just to make sure...all right yup this works for me. Really works well. I had forgotten how yummy that man looks.

MargotTenser: Leah does have a lot on her plate, losing a father would have been enough of a problem but on top of all that she lost her boyfriend, her dreams, her body and her free will. She is now still stuck on the reservation, occasionally she sees a glimmer of hope but then the waves of depression pull her back under.

She might believe that she is selfish in her depression, and the thoughts of her old pack had agreed with her but she was still able to see past herself and think about others. She could understand why Rosalie would be upset over never being able to have a child, she could fight and badmouth Bella for hurting Jake - she might have done the latter in a less than delicate manner but she still tried.

It is hard to write Phil when he is not so perfect, I am hoping it will not piss off too many people but he is not the knight in shinning armor Leah always sees him as. He is about duty and responsibilities, a guardian that has had to do some horrible things all in the name of protecting humans from the experiments. He might not always feel guilty but he knowns he should which can lead to a buildup of some nasty baggage. Leah being a pack creature should not bother him much, he is very much a family man. He understands loyalty and caring, I would think that Phil would be proud of Leah for trying to help her friend and Claire but he would probably be upset that she tried to do it alone. I keep trying to think of who in the family would be a good partner for Leah, if I ever get that far in time. I was thinking this really uptight British guy might be fun, one that was brought forward in time from the Victorian age or something (that would be kind of fun). Well I know you thought your review was blabbering but I loved reading it.

Bingo: I don't know if you have read this far ahead right now, but as for what Leah wore when she went to visit Sassy's planet yes I was thinking of something very similar to the clothes worn traditionally around India. I figured in a similar environment people would develop the same style of clothing.

IB Teri: Have you read this part yet? Glad you like the story, does this Phil live up to your expectations?


	50. The Cave

7 - The Cave

"Who...this?" the old man asked in his stuttered way when I stood to stand next to my son. My movement must have alerted him to my presence, he turned his head to examine me with his "good" eye. It was doubtful that he saw much detail when it had to be filtered through that hazy lens. While this planet had the medical technology to do something about cataracts you needed money for such services; this man did not look like he had access to advanced medical treatment. As he turned his body to face me more squarely the stained coat he was wearing opened slightly to reveal what could only be described as rags underneath.

I adjusted my very expensive jacket and planted my feet before leaning into my walking stick. To an outsider our standoff might have appeared humorous. Just two old men trying to stare each other down. I certainly not amused by the scene. This had altered from my son being his usual scatterbrained self and needing a fatherly intervention. It had developed into a potentially dangerous situation where my son needed me to be a balance guardian rather than a father. Honestly, I was much more comfortable with the role of balance guardian than that of father.

I tried to look past the ragged clothes that were peeking out from under the stained and oversized coat he wore; instead I concentrated on his mind. It was easy enough to pick up the thoughts of the other patrons of the bar; their focus was on the drinks or the various petty problems that seem to consume mortals. Worries about finances, the faithfulness of their partner, or the poor chances of being able to obtain a bedmate for the evening were the main themes. Over the years as a courtesy I had learned to block out all but the loudest of my son's thoughts but now that was lost as I searched the thoughts of anyone and everyone around me. Kalim was worried about my presence scaring this old man away and missing the opportunity to finally avenge his parents.

The skeletal man in front of me was a mystery, and unfortunately I could not tell what he saw when he looked at me. I was going to have to do this the old fashioned and unreliable way. It had become necessary to read his expression. The old man spent far too much time staring back at me. Did he suspect what I was? That was doubtful, my disguise was far too good to be penetrated by his poor vision. He would see only what I wanted him to see. Another old man who had left his youth behind several decades ago but was still intelligent enough to be wary of those who would try to take advantage of his son. I gave him my what the fuck are you trying to pull on my son look, or at least I hope that is what it was.

The old man cautiously examined my walking stick and I made sure to give him a threatening smile as he did so. _Yeah I am going to beat your ass if you try anything._

He seemed overly guarded as he first examined me and then the other patrons of the bar. This made me wonder why he had approached my son who was a stranger in these parts.

"This is my father," Kalim spoke swiftly, throwing me a look that demanded his support. He need not have worried, this old man now had my full attention. Something he probably did not want to have.

"Well you never said ... father," the old man's speech improved slightly as he threw me a glare. To my relief I was soon dismissed as a non-threat, and he shifted away from me to stare at the other patrons yet again.

"Everyone has a father," I told him with a small smile. All the while pushing with every mental muscle I had against the barrier of his thoughts. He did not react to my joke, and instead shifted around on his feet in a restless way.

Again he addressed Kalim as if I did not even exist, "well we... going, are you ...coming?"

"Yes, yes let us go." Kalim moved so quickly that he knocked the chair over. In doing so causing a ruckus that pulled all eyes to him. I barely resisted the urge to roll my own eyes at him. Subtlety was not one of my son's strong points. Aodh had been correct in dismissing Kalim as a possible candidate for a balance guardian, as he would have been killed before he even began to fulfill his duties. Very rarely we would find children that we would "adopt" into the family. Kendrick's daughter was such a child. When he had found her his spirit had told Kendrick to bring her home to the family. Aliah had the right genetic make-up for easy insertion of the guardian genes, and more importantly she had passed Bee's and Mari's inspection. I had never considered introducing Kalim to the elders of my family, so he was to remain ignorant of life as a member of my family.

I watched in horror as instead of brushing the incident off as a mere accident Kalim made things worse by clumsily attempting to stand the chair back into an upright position. So now that he had the attention of all the other patrons he exposed his back to them, and in this society doing something that stupid was like asking to be robbed. When this was over we were going to have a talk about how not to get killed. It amazed me that he had survived this long, especially since Kalim was so fond these wild goose chases.

"But before we leave I need to use the facilities," I did not give them time to protest instead I headed for the small side door that had the bathroom symbol on it. The stench was nearly unbearable. A combination of piss, vomit, and shit.

"Lovely," I muttered under my breath as while attempting to not step on any part of the floor as I closed the door behind me. "Why bother aiming for the troth, if I pissed all over the floor it might make things a little cleaner." Fortunately I did not have to actually pee. This trip to the bathroom was a ruse to allow me to pull out my phone in private. Fearing that a conversation might be overheard I sent a message to Aurora wanting her to alert any nearby family members that there might be an infected in the area. Having warned the family in the region of possible trouble I headed back out of the foul room not even bothering to wash my hands. I had some sanitizer in my pocket and would have to pull it out when no one was looking; it was of no use to clean my hands before heading out since touching the door would have negated the effects of the sanitizer.

My son was waiting rather impatiently by the exit, the old man next to him looking ready to flee at any moment.

"All done," I told them with a false smile while indicating with my walking stick that someone should open the door.

The old man, who had yet to volunteer any sort of name, was first to move. Again the ease with which he manipulated the handle on the door raised red flags. The swollen and misshapen joints of his hand should not have been able to bend and twist that fast without a great deal of pain.

"Follow... me," he hesitated on the words. Opening his mouth long before anything came out.

The old man tried to set a brisk pace as we walked past the houses and all signs of civilization. If you could call this shanty town civilization. I dictated the speed of our journey wanting to gain more time to get into his brain, or perhaps a thought from the person trapped inside of the infected body. I was hoping that my suspicious were wrong and that he was just an ex-miner looking to make some quick money by robbing travelers. A man that looked as frail and helpless as this one would have been taken out by society for his own good, and the only way he could avoid such fate would be by having the physical advantages that are the benefits of a nano infection.

Pretending to rely on my walking stick as we headed down the heavily rutted dirt road I kept the others moving at a snail's pace. The old man gave us no clues to his plan or our destination, and instead spent most of his time answering my son's numerous questions with nothing but grunts. The scenery did not give us much more information about where this old man intended to take us. On either side of us were rather tall fences to contain the cow-like creatures that were the main source of meat for the residents of this region. A few sparse patches of trees added to the pastoral scene along with a rickety looking farmhouses. In the background were some low lying hills that in this region were riddled with mine shafts. The feeling of imminent doom was not alleviated by the gloomy clouds overhead. Soon those clouds would open up and a major downpour would come down. Hopefully the acid content of the rain would be low enough that it would not eat through our clothes.

Suddenly our guide stopped and turned toward the tall fence. I did not see the landmark or sign that distinguished this particular section of the road. The old man hesitated for a moment before he jumped the tall fence into the meadow filled with livestock. The move would have been impressive had a young man done it, and the fact that this old, broken man managed to do it was nothing short of a miracle.

"Kroit's gonads," even Kalim noticed the feat.

Unlike my son I let a swear slip past my lips not out of admiration but frustration. "Yes, my sentiments exactly."

While the jump was extremely suspicious it was not enough evidence. The rules of my family required absolute proof that the person we destroyed was infect. All I needed was one stray thought screaming for help, or I could of course get a blood sample and look at it under the microscope. Somehow I doubted he would easily volunteer a blood sample.

Wondering where the fuck the family I moved to follow the old man. My climb over the tall fence was done in the manner that befitted a man my age - well the age I was supposed to be. Once I finally made it to the other side I spent some time rearranging my disheveled clothes, and if at the same time I just happened to do a weapons check well I was the only one who was aware of that. There was a large knife strapped to the inside of my boot, and the bracelet I wore around my wrist could double as a garrote. Unfortunately I had not thought to bring any of my heavier weapons. It would have been good to have a sword or one of the particle weapons my mother had helped design. The small gun that was hidden at the small of my back would do little to stop an infected; they needed to be hacked into bits so that they would stay still long enough to burn. The walking stick my son had given me was heavy enough that it might do some damage.

The old man had paused long enough to make sure we were following before he moved across the empty meadow. I became fairly certain he was leading us towards the mines. Many in this area were abandoned and poorly maintained making them a place that would be dangerous to outsiders even without the potential infected. I amped up my concerned parent act, and became the dad that was helping his son fulfill his mission - albeit very cautiously.

"Where are we going?" I asked while pretending to look around as if I was not one hundred percent aware of our surrounding. Our guide only replied with a grunt. "Will we get there soon?" I continued as if there was a chance he would answer my question.

Kalim threw me a confused but grateful look, wondering why I was playing along with his quest. Usually I was against any attempts he made to find the hunters. Now Kalim was happy that for once I was not stopping him. While he was curious about my sudden change in attitude he was not going about to start complaining about gaining my approval. He even went so far as to try to offer me help over the rock fence we had to scale as we got to the other side of the meadow.

I pushed his hands away, "the day I can't climb over a puny pile of rocks like this is the day you get to start gathering wood for my funeral pyre."

The old man had not noticed this exchange in his anxiousness to lead us to our final destination, and there was no doubt in my mind that final was the key word here. At best he was taking us somewhere private to murder and rob us. At worst he was wanting someplace private to infect us with the nanos. I wanted to make him work for it and to gain a little more time to find the evidence needed to prove he was infected. It did not bother me when he disappeared behind the rather dense group of trees that lined the meadow. Unlike my son who was throwing frantic glances at the trees I knew he would be back for us.

Less than a minute later he returned. The annoyed click he made with his tongue would have been amusing under other circumstances. "Come," he muttered his first word since we had left the pub.

"Father, hurry or he may leave," my son whined like a five year old.

"I am coming a fast as I can, and you will wait for your father," the rocky terrain was easy enough to cross, and I could have done it easily had I not been a little worried. Why had I not heard back from one of the local family? Was no one here? Sometimes if things were a little too quiet in the region partners would be given extra land to guard. Even if they were elsewhere Aurora should have contacted them and passed along my message.

Finding an infected was an emergency situation; it was not something you dismissed to be dealt with later. The rows of trees did not last more than 100 meters before they thinned and disappeared, showing me that my poor navigation skills had not revealed how close we were to the hills.

Someone had been very busy here lately, and clearly they were no engineer. In front of us was a very large hole in the side of the hill. It looked like an old mineshaft that had been very poorly expanded to make the entrance bigger.

It was not the large dark cave that made me stop in my tracks. Instead, it was the final confirmation of what I had suspected all along. It could not even be called a thought, more like a whisper of a feeling. For a moment I heard a weak voice mutter a word of despair. It was almost nothing but at the same time everything I needed. This man was infected. My outward appearance did not alter as I reached into my back pocket, and changed my direction so that my path crossed a large rock. The combination of accidentally tripping over the rock and the folds of my clothes allowed me to hide the fact that I was sending a message: _To the guardians of this region there is an infected at my location._

"Father, are you all right?" Kalim asked with a great deal of concern as he came to help me up.

"Just a rock. I lost my footing for a moment," my poker face intact as I suddenly heard the other minds. They were screaming for help and mercy, and unlike the quiet one in front of me their thoughts almost overwhelming. At least half a dozen that I could discern but maybe even more. This might become the day Kalim had been dreaming about for years, as he might finally find the hunter that killed his parents. The old man was clearly leading us into a trap, but I was still trying to figure out why he had picked my son and not one of the dozen locals. Was he wanting to rob him? or did he want to infect us and make us puppets? Regardless of his plans if I was wrong and there were no guardians stationed here, then I would have to kill all these infected.

A younger guardian would have possibly rushed in and taken them all on. Fighting this many infected with no weapons was dangerous but not impossible. My training had involved such scenarios but it would have been beyond foolish to do this without help. My best option was to somehow contact Phila and hope she got here in time before the infected figured out what I was. Under normal circumstances I would have run away, put on my armor, and come back to clean house. Unfortunately I had Kalim with me and he was a complication that made everything that much harder. He was a very poorly modified human and could not outrun an infected. So now all my plans had to revolve around Kalim not getting killed or infected. At this point my son finding out that I was a hunter was not a major concern.

I could now understand why Aodh had wanted me to come here, because Kalim would have been dead had he done this alone. As it was, I could not guarantee his safety if the shit hit the fan. I attempted to calculate the odds of him surviving, but honestly his changes really depended on my ability to keep him from getting infected. The medical technology on the island would cure anything except infection. If that happened to him there would be nothing I could do but kill him myself.

"Maybe I should sit down for a minute," I told Kalim while allowing him to lead me to a flat rock. "I think I might have twisted something." Faking an injury was easy enough and it was not like either my son or the old man had any medical experience to ascertain that I was lying.

"Do you want this or not?" The old man looked at the large mouth of the cave that was obviously his final destination. His speech seemed to have improved in the past few minutes making me suspect that the nanos were somehow connecting the infected. In the past we had found those infected with the nanos that appeared to move as a single organism, and unfortunately for me these tended to be a lot harder to kill.

"A few minutes to catch my breath, not all of us have your stamina." I told him feigning shortness of breath. In a huff the old man found his own rock to sit on. He turned his back on us but I was willing to bet he knew every move we made.

"Let me check your leg father," Kalim circled me trying to find a way to help. He never did like seeing others hurt.

"I will be fine, just give me a minute." Or I will be as soon as my family gets here.

So we sat there quietly and commented on the weather until I "caught my breath". This did not happen until the cacophony of cries for help were joined by another set of thoughts. _What is wrong Phillip can't you take down one small infected old man?_ I recognized Alexis' thoughts, my family had arrived.

_I can take him but it will be hard to destroy him and the ones inside of the cave without Kalim being hurt._ I though back at her while lowering a few of my mental shields so she could hear my mind easier. I stood up and pretended to test my ankle, Kalim continued to hover.

_There are more inside the cave? This explains where the little bugs have been hiding. We haves suspected for months, but could never find them. All right let is burn them. _Her thoughts were stronger which meant she must have been getting closer. _Malcolm will disable them with guns and I will burn them, all you have to do is act scared and protect your boy._

_And what the hell am I going to do? _Asked another voice, this new one belonged to Alexis' cousin Snow. Her real name was Cassandra but no one ever called her that, and if Cassandra was here that meant Malcom's brother Simon would be here too. Five guardians would make this fight go in our favor.

_Sit there and look cool as a cucumber,_ Alexis thought back with a laugh. Snow had no problem looking cool as she was the opposite of Alexis. While Alexis was somewhat of a fire bug her cousin Snow tended to prefer ice. She fought the infected by freezing their bodies into solid ice and then shattering them before her partner would set the shards on fire. The nanos made the bodies burn a lot easier than that of a normal human.

"Looks like nothing is wrong, maybe I am just getting old," I pretended to test the weight bearing ability of my ankle before pushing myself up. The old man noticed we were moving again and jumped off his rock before heading into the cave.

I slowly followed him into the cave, all the while making sure that my son was in arm's reach. Kalim's survival instincts finally started to kick in as we descended into the gloom. He began looking around trying to figure out what was hiding in the growing shadows. Our path only dimly lit by miner's lanterns that were too far apart to be safe but our guide did not seem to have any trouble navigating.

"Are you sure you saw them here?" Kalim asked, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Bodies... this ...way, we... show," the creepy disembodied voice was calling from the flickering shadows. Almost like Hades beckoning us into the underworld.

"We, who is we?" I asked wanting to know the numbers we would be dealing with. As it was I had teased out nine individual voices among the mental screams.

"My friend," the old man hissed in an impatient reply.

"You know we are probably going to get robbed and murdered," I explained to my son under my breath. "Not necessarily in that order."

"Father I wish you would stop joking about such things," Kalim tried to laugh but I could hear the tremor in his voice. It had finally clicked for him that this was a dangerous business. In a way I was glad it was going to happen this way since he needed some sense beaten into him. If I was not afraid of the infection being passed onto Kalim I might have been tempted to let the infected beat on him for a while.

_Hey can you guys scare Kalim some, he needs to stop abandoning his duties in order to find the hunters. _I sent the thoughts out to my family hoping that they would cooperate in teaching Kalim a lesson. Alexis especially had a flare for the dramatic, perhaps I could "die" here. Dying at the hands of the hunters or infected would certainly gain my family a great deal of reputation.

_No you can't do that. His parents were killed by hunters and if you died the same way it might break him._ Alexis the know it all psychiatrist chimed in reading the thoughts that had not been meant for her.

She may have possibly been right. For a boy who had watched his parents taken out by the hunters, and who then had proceeded to make killing hunters his lifelong mission it might be too much to watch his adopted father be killed by more hunters. I would have to find a different and less convenient way to fake my death. Plus it would be hard to maintain my greatest grandpa status from the grave.

The stench of human refuse was starting to permeate the air, and only got stronger as we descended down into the mine. I made sure to stomp my feet harder than necessary to cover any sounds that would have been made by the other four guardians following behind us. Normally we would have tried to find several ways into the cave, but there was the fear that this old man would alert the other and they would flee before we could clear out this nest of infected.

There was more light in the large cavern we entered, and around us were clumps of rags that could possibly have been the beds for these people. The stench of refuse and unwashed human bodies nearly knocked me on my ass. Smoke from the small fires that dotted the floor permeated the air. Unfortunately the fires did not add much warmth to the otherwise chilly room.

"What the hell is this?" My son asked as it became apparent that the only bodies in the room were very much alive. Eleven sets of eyes were focused on us and they appeared very interested.

_There are eleven in this cave alone,_ I relayed the intel to Alexis. "Obviously some sort of trap." I explained to my clearly disappointed son. "The trap where we die and they loot our corpses for anything useful they can find." I spelled it out for him in case he did not hear me the first time that we were going to be murdered and robbed.

The eyes watching us were somewhat glassed over and vacant. The lights were on but the ones home were no longer in charge. I made a mental note as to which of the side caves the old man disappeared into. Kalim was watching as well, and I watched as the last of the hope leached out of his face. I was hoping the full extent of the situation would sink in quickly.

The people in the cave were slowly but surely moving towards us; one of them had an extremely choppy walk. To a physician it might have looked like the man had Parkinson's disease, but to me it was a clear indication that he had been recently infected and the nanos had not yet figured out how to pull his string.

Kalim appeared fascinated by the movement comparing it to the way his parents had moved the last few days of their life. His mind was too busy reliving the memories to notice the imminent danger. Luckily for both of us my family had positioned themselves around the cave and were ready to attack. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the flash grenade arc up before it hit the floor in the middle of the cave. Having anticipated the large burst of light I closed my eyes before the timer went off.

The infected would recover quickly since their other senses could adapt to moving around blind. Kalim had not anticipated the flash nor had he the physiology to adapt quickly. Currently he was moving around blindingly with his hands straight out in front of him trying to find a wall. This gave me a lot more leeway in my defense of him. Pushing my son into a small corner I went to stand next to Malcolm making sure to whistle so that he would notice me coming up next to him. I grabbed one of the swords strapped to his back, and was back to my son before the first infected reached him.

He was a male that looked just a few years older than my son, but the lines in his face told of a much harder life. He either did not see or he did not care about the large sword in my hand. When he was a few meters away I kicked his legs out from under him and quickly cut off his head. The arms and legs were next to come off, and after that I cut his torso in half. Using my mind I threw the body parts to the center of the room where a pile of body parts were gathering.

Malcolm and his brother were both shooting the infected; their guns were built for silence, so that others would not be alerted by the noise. The swift spray of bullets was literally cutting the infected into pieces before those body parts were mentally thrown into the fire that Alexis had started.

A large chuck of ice zoomed across the room lifting and impaling an infected against the wall; Snow disappeared and re-appeared next to the infected pinned to the wall. She used her sword to quickly carve the infected up before taking down the other one who had tried to sneak up behind her.

Across the room Alexis was throwing fire balls around, and adding a few extra fireballs to the pile of bodies in the middle. The infected that were still moving around did not dare approach her since they were deathly afraid of fire. I almost regretted the fact that Kalim was too blind to see this spectacle.

"Father, are you all right?" Kalim asked frantically as he tried to grab for the wall next to him.

"Fine, just stay still for a minute," I moved away from him as another infected tried to make its way to where my son was pulling himself up next to the wall. I used my borrowed sword one last time before whistling at Malcolm yet again; this time to warn him that I was throwing the sword back to him.

As I watched Kalim start to blink less I picked up my walking stick again and stood next to my son. _I need you to make this brutal. Kalim needs to learn that he should not be chasing after hunters._ There was not much left to see as the infected were dead and already burning in the middle of the cavern. The light being made by the burning infected was bathing the room in a very cheery orange light. Kalim rubbed his eyes and blinked a few more times before his attention was grabbed by Alexis. She was currently juggling several fireballs above her as she watched the burning pile in front of her.

Suddenly there was a loud noise and several fast moving infected came running into the room. The first one was hit by a fireball that made its head burst into flames and a chunk of ice that made it fly through the air before it was pinned to the cave wall where it then became the human torch. More infected entered the cave, and those who were moving around too quickly to properly set on fire were taking out by Malcolm and Simon. I watched my son as Kalim finally began to understand the situation.

"Oh gods, it is them," Kalim said in a combination of awe and fear.

"Yes congratulations you have found the hunters. Now all we have to do is survive." I explained while pulling him further into the shallow alcove to stay out of the line of fire. Yes the fire pun was intended but unfortunately my son did not speak english so I was not going to share the joke with him.

"I have never seen anything like this, what are they?" Kalim asked so quietly even I could barely hear him as he watched more people pour into the cave. They were coming in groups of three and four but they did not stand a chance.

"Obviously the infected," I grumbled back, pissed off that to keep up pretenses all I could do was sit here and watch. Well I could technically pick up the one about to pounce on Simon and throw them at the wall. My son would not know that it was not one of the "hunters" tossing the infected around.

Alexis and Snow did not disappoint as they methodically took out one group of infected after another. My son's eyes got bigger and bigger. It was really not all that impressive since most of the these were old and half dead miners. While the nanos could give you some extra strength there was only so much they could do with a body that was falling apart from old age and disease.

Alexis was bouncing a fireball in her hand before she finally contained it within her palm. The small fireball became larger until it consumed her entire arm, and it slowly moved up and around her body. Soon her entire body was covered with golden and red flames. I could hear Kalim's whimper next to me as he watched one of the infected try to grab her from behind. Apparently this one was brave enough to approach the fire. Alexis simply twisted her body around him. Her movements as fluid as the flames circling her. The infected opened his mouth in a silent scream of agony as Alexis held it down with her burning foot and threw another fireball at the next infected.

The bodies kept piling up in the center of the room, and the flames began to rise higher and higher until they nearly touched the ceiling of the large cavern. Dark oily looking smoke began to fill the room making it harder to breathe. Fortunately the infected finally stopped coming, but this was probably not all of them. A thorough search would have to be done on these caverns to make sure every infected had been killed. I did not envy them that task because it could take months to go through this entire cave system.

"Come on let us go," I pulled on Kalim's arm to get him to start moving. If watching this fight did not teach him how futile his attempts to avenge his parents were I did not know what could be done. He looked slightly in shock as I yanked on his arm as we skirted the edges of the cavern trying to make it to the exit.

_Leaving so soon?_ I heard an amused thought from Simon.

_Yeah I think Kalim might have learned his lesson, thanks for the help_. I pushed and pulled Kalim towards the passageway that had brought us here. Hopefully the rotting wood beams would hold long enough for us to safely escape.

It was with a great deal of relief that I saw the green color of the leaves on the trees. Signaling the fact that we had made it out of the caves. We spent a few moments coughing and breathing in the outside air.

"Are you all right?" I asked Kalim yet again. His heartbeats had not settled down, but that could have been due to our rapid exit from the caves.

"Good," he replied as he threw himself onto a patch of grass.

"Why are you doing that? We are not out of danger yet. Come on move." I kicked his side gently trying to prod him to get going.

My peripheral vision caught a movement to my left. Two thousand years of training made me swing my walking stick in the right direction. With a satisfying crunch my walking stick connected with the jaw of the old man. He staggered backwards at the unexpected blow, but I did not give him any time to recover.

Ignoring my son who had finally realized that something was wrong I swung my stick yet again, and hoped the wood would be able to withstand the stress. I kept swinging and pummeling the old man until he was nothing but a sack of skin with broken bones inside. This was not an ideal way to stop him but considering my audience I would have to improvise.

"Father I think you are supposed to set him on fire, at least that is what the hunters did." My son suggested after watching me pound on the old man for nearly a minute.

"Well since I forgot my fire starter kit it will be somewhat hard to do that." I let some of my frustration leak into my voice. There was no way I could use my powers to set him on fire without the cover of the other guardians.

"Well regardless of all that, I am fairly certain he is dead."

It was not possible to explain to him that for a while even the dead ones could continue to move around. Hence the "space zombie" nickname for the infected. A healer would not have such knowledge so I ignored him and kept hitting any body part of the old man that moved even a centimeter. The mind stuck inside this body could fortunately not feel the pain anymore, and the nanos were not capable of feeling pain except when they were set on fire.

"Well, well, well. What have we here?" I heard Alexis' voice getting closer to me. Kalim stood closer to me, turning his back to mine in a futile attempt to protect me. I rolled my eyes as I watched Alexis saunter towards us. She really should have gone into the theater. If anyone could scare Kalim into not looking for hunter it would be Alexis. Not that Snow was a slouch in the drama department. She was capable of lowering her body temperature to below freezing, and for some reason while other things around her turned solid she could still function as normal. The humidity in the air condensed and froze on her skin, so her entire body was covered in a white ice powder. This gave her a very monochrome look especially since the only color on her entire body were her dark grey eyes.

"Are you infected?" Snow asked as she too approached. I could feel the heat radiating off of Alexis on our right and the cool coming off of Snow on the right. Alexis' fire was not an illusion. Since she was Snow's exact opposite Alexis could raise her body temperature to the point where the air around her burst into flames.

"No..." Kalim stuttered out, clearly very afraid. I rolled my eyes at the smirk on Alexis' face. She was enjoying this a little too much. "But we think he is."

"Hmmmm, that is what they always say." Alexis continued on with the game.

"Are you going to kill us?" Kalim asked, all his earlier bravado regarding his training gone now that he was faced with the reality of the hunters.

"We only kill infected," Snow explained as she stepped even closer. Malcolm and Simon had come up behind the two girls flanking them without making a sound.

Alexis made a small fireball and threw it at the old man. I stepped back and threw my walking stick onto the pyre since it was coated with his blood.

"They could be lying," Malcolm explained in a detached voice.

Snow circled us and stepped right up to Kalim. She was a good head shorter than he but she still managed to intimidate him. "Are you infected? This time answer with your mind."

"No," Kalim said out loud before his thoughts became jumbled and confused.

"While your body can lie, your thoughts always give you away." Snow's breath was coming out in a cool cloud. She had the cool turned on and if she got any closer to my son she would give him frostbite. "Try to stay away from the infected because if you manage to get nanos in you not even your daddy with his big stick can save you."

Her threat made Snow disappeared and soon the other guardians followed as well._ Bravo, bravo. That was an oscar worthy performance._ I thought at them as they moved back towards the caves; they were still here but invisible to Kalim. _Thanks, don't get dead._ I wished them luck as they went back to hunting more infected.

"What do we do now father?" Kalim asked in a whisper.

"Now we walk back to town. After that you get to go home so that you can console your distraught wife and lonely son." I gave my command in a firm voice.

"Oh," he seemed disappointed at the mundane reply.

"What kind of a man leaves his responsibilities in order to pursue their personal vendetta?" I allowed my own disapproval leech into my voice. If it was not for his need for revenge I could be happily stalking a very pretty girl right about now.

It took me a day and a half to get back to Earth and the young woman who had suddenly become so important to me. First I had to go back to the island for decontamination. It would have been the ultimate irony if a guardian, the ones who were supposed to destroy the infected, were to carry the infection back to earth. Since I had come into such close contact with the infected my clothes were destroyed while a diagnostic tool verified that my body was clean of infection.

The attic of Sassy's cabin was a lot cleaner, but this house was still occupied on a regular basis. I stepped down down from the attic and headed to the shower in order to wash off the disinfectant from my body. I wanted more than anything to hunt down my mate but that would have been tricky since the sun was fully up. Plus I needed some sleep since it had been nearly a week since the last time I had slept. I toweled myself off and headed to the bedroom and nearly laughed. It seemed that Phila had the same plan as she was asleep in bed. Throwing my wet towel into the hamper I pulled back the covers and joined her in bed.

"Oh hey, you are back." My lifting of the comforter and letting in the cool air woke Phila up a little.

"Yeah, is Leah ok?" I whispered back not wanting to wake her up fully.

"Yeah, she went patrolling for the past two nights. Now she is off on a job hunt in Forks." Even half asleep Phila managed to spit out the name of the small town with a great deal of derision. Phila was really a big town sort of girl.

"Thanks, for watching out for her." I whispered while getting comfortable on my pillows.

It was not until the next morning that I was able to see my mate again. We had woken up before noon so that Phila could have enough time to jump to Seattle and make it to her afternoon lab. She was the one who pointed out what I had completely missed.

"You know we are going to have to stop doing this, at least for a while." She waved her hand in a general way.

"Eat lunch together?" I asked confused.

"No sleep together," she spoke slowly enunciating the words almost like I was an idiot.

"We have alway slept together," there were places where you needed someone you could trust at your back when you caught a few hours of sleep.

"Yeah but a girlfriend is not going to exactly understand that you sleep naked with another woman." Phila pointed out the obvious as she ate her sandwich.

So what is why I spent most of Monday getting rid of all evidence of Phila. It was not that I wanted to exactly hide her from Leah, but it would have been hard to explain how partners lived without explaining parts of being a guardian. Especially for a girl who had been dumped in such a bad way. She would not appreciate the fact that I slept naked with another woman, and I am sure she would not understand the fact that I always slept in the nude.

It was not until Tuesday morning that I had the opportunity to go see Leah. I was ready to head out Monday night but I got a call from my mother that could not be avoided. Instead of getting to watch my mate on patrols I got a verbal ass kicking from my mother for failing to tell her all about my mate. The only thing that kept me sane was Aodh sending me images of what Leah was doing.

The sun was fully up when I reached the woods that bordered near Leah's home. The ease with which the werewolf patrol could be avoided made me a little wary. What did a group of teenagers know about military strategy? Having seen them operate I was going to say absolutely nothing. I shuddered to think that this inept group was going to have to face off against the highly trained Volturi guard.

Making sure my cloak of invisibility was solid I took a step out into the light of day. I did not walk across the field. Instead I jumped to the window I knew to be her bedroom.

I spotted her passed out on the bed as soon as I looked in her window. Not able to help myself I jumped inside of her room, the brother was still home pretending to finish up some homework. The mother was too busy concentrating on her bookkeeping to notice her son slacking off.

Leah's hands were carefully folded underneath her head as she lay on her side. Her forehead no longer creased with the lines of worry and despair. The moment of peace was giving me an image of what she must have been like before the fates had decided to toss her around. The normally angry and downturned twist of her lips was gone. They were currently slightly puckered almost as if she was a sleeping beauty waiting for the prince charming to come and kiss her awake. I hope this was not the case because while my heritage included a royal bloodline I was no prince charming. She heaved a small sigh and a strand of hair fluttered and landed on the soft pink lips. I was consumed with jealousy, I wanted to be the one to touch those pillowy pink lips.

Against my better judgement I reached over and pulled the hair out of the way. My fingers taking care only to touch the hair, but despite the softest of touches she started to wake.

"Shhh, Princess sleep and dream only happy dreams," I whispered the word so quietly that not even the acute hearing of the wolf in the next room could hear me. The frustration of the past couple of days slipped away like water through my fingers by watching her resting so peacefully. I spent a few minutes watching her sleep before the racket of her brother getting ready to leave for school woke her up. The lines of misery returned to her face almost the second she became aware of her surroundings. As Leah went off in search of a job I retreated to the cabin and plotted.

It was time to introduce myself to Leah's mother. It was going to take all of my expert skills to prevent Sue Clearwater from kicking me out of her daughter's life as soon as she saw me.

* * *

A/N: Happy Mother's Day. I would like to say that this morning I woke up to a beautiful gift handmade by my grateful children, but unfortunately this morning resembled most weekend mornings. This usually involves two kids and two cats trying to squeeze into the bed with my husband and I; all this at an ungodly early hour.

In other news: Dreaming at Dawn has been nominated for a She Wolf Award for most inventive Leah/OC. shewolfawards (dot) blogspot (dot) com if you want to see the other nominations. Voting begins May 21st if you want to send some support, or just want to look for other good fanfic stories to read.

x-Converse-Queen-x: Don't know if you are reading this part but thanks for the review. I am glad you like the story. The only Myles I know is this old man who absolutely loves to pull pranks on people, how do people misspell Myles?

Moani-Sama: How did Kendrick lose his mate? In a very violent way. I have had several people asking me what Kendrick looks like. I am going to go with Lenny Krazitz (someone had suggested him and I am fine with it), and after looking up his name to make sure I spelled it right I spent the next 15 minutes staring at his hotness. I thought I answered this question for someone a while back.

Princessx: Glad you liked the less perfect side of Phil, and while he is not perfect he really does try for his Princess.

December Duchess: I liked how Phil interacts with his grandson too, and I wanted to add a little bit of the competitive side of Phil in there as well. He does need to be the number one grandpa. His son is just an ordinary kid who got caught up in some bad circumstances and it scarred him for the rest of his life. Though you have to admit that the story is from Phil's point of view so he will be a little bit biased. Especially since the son's foolishness is keeping Phil away from Leah. Thanks for the insightful reviews.

MeMeMeMeeeeee: I think Phil knows the way he is supposed to behave, but he does not always have the emotional cues to help him out. He has a very strong sense of family and responsibility, but that comes from being a guardian. I see Phil as being somewhat of an awesome father to have, but he would be totally hated when his kids are teenagers. He is a psychic so he would be able to see anytime they try to sneak out or drink too much. His son is an ordinary guy that has too much to deal with and is making some poor choices.

Myyoung228: Writing from Phil's perspective is kind of fun but at the same time I have to get a little creative so I don't just end up repeating myself. Going off on a tangent with Kalim and Phil's interactions was at first only a way to develop Phil's character better.

Sassy and Seth may take me a while, I am thinking about redoing parts of the story and adding some action. Embry and Stephi might just be a really long short story but we will see what happens.

Inosolan: He has responsibilities, and that sucks when all he wants to do is stalk a miserable little she-wolf.

IBTeri: Glad you liked the story, Leah going through family training and upgrades might have to come in snippets. It really is not all that cool, I was thinking about adding Leah's partner. Now that is going to be fun :D.

Hgmsnoopy: Don't worry Phil will take care of his adopted son, especially since his own family is willing to help him out.

Connect2tjb: Writing about Phil is fun, he has a lot more history. This gives me the opportunity to make him more complex than 19 year old Leah.


	51. Meet the Parent

8 - Meet the Parents

Finding out what people were hiding was one of the main jobs of a guardian. From a very early age we were trained to uncover what people hid. Therefore it really amazed me that this small glade had remained hidden from my family for nearly two thousand years. Not even my partner Phila knew about this small hideaway of mine - this was astonishing considering that traditionally partners shared everything. It might have been selfishness on my part but I wanted a place that was solely mine.

All the family members had a main residence on the island which was located in close proximity to both the meadow and the main house. These large houses were erected with the help of the entire family, and the completion of your own home was a rite of passage for the newly trained guardians. That was the time when you became a true "adult" and no longer lived with your parents. Great-uncle Peter was the architect of the family and designed your house any way you wanted. Most of us just went with the normal layout as it was one we were familiar with. This building became our new home, this was where we brought our mates, this was where we raised our families, and this was where we escaped when we were tired of dealing with humanity.

The island, as we called this planet, had been terraformed by the elders of the family to look like Earth. A cursory glance might make a person think that the island looked was in fact the home planet of humans. The size was a little larger than Earth but the difference in gravity was negligible. The trees in the forests and the flowers in the grasslands were all the same. I am not sure how the elders got the diversity of flora and fauna to reflex that of Earth, but I think it had to do with the alien technology - those creatures had perfected terraforming long before they had come to Earth in search of test subjects. There were lions and tigers and bears - oh my. There was one glaring difference that would immediately tell the observer that this was not planet Earth, and that was the lack of human settlements on the island. There were no cities, towns, villages, or even hamlets. The closest we got to a town was the group of houses surrounding the meadow, but they were scattered with a mile or more distance between them. The pristine looking hills were not crisscrossed by roads, telephone poles, or power lines. If you went a little to the south where the hills disappeared to yield a flatter terrain you would find the hydroponic greenhouses that grew our vegetables and the herds of semi-wild livestock that provided us with meat.

All this was just a speck, less than a percent of the surface of the planet. We did not have high enough numbers of people to truly make an impact. Beyond our small group of homes there were a few shelters that dotted the planet. These varied from huts next to pristine powdery white beaches to small shelters in the high mountain ranges. The small buildings were public domain and any family member would use them whenever they wanted a change in scenery without leaving the planet. The winters around the meadow could be harsh and after a while sitting and staring at snow go boring. When there were less than five hundred people inhabiting an entire planet you could really get away from everyone - including your much too nosey and opinionated family.

The cabin I was heading for was one such sanctuary. Except it was not public domain as it was my ultimate getaway.

I had come across this small valley when I was stuck on the planet during my training sessions. Two hundred years gives you a lot of time to explore even with the intense routine of guardian training. I had instantly fallen in love with the tiny blue lake nestled in between the large peaks. Even though it had been love at first sight the building of the cabin had taken me decades. The beams that made up the walls had been cut by me alone and assembled over one summer. Normally we used the special alloy because it would last forever without altering, but I did not know how to make it. Asking for building materials would have made someone curious so I had to improvise. To keep the wood from rotting I added layer upon layer of protective spells to each beam. During the full moons if you looked at the walls just right you could see the letters of the ancient language glowing across the large beams of wood.

Compared to my home this was nothing but a small shack, but in some ways it was more comfortable than the large multistory house. I spent a few minutes walking around the perimeter of the place to make sure that none of the beams were out of place. It would most likely not kill me if the place fell on my head but it would hurt like hell.

Satisfied with my survey I pushed the door open and heard it creak in protest - that would have to be looked at later. The great room looked just as I had left it a few years ago with sheets covering a lot of the main furniture. The wooden furniture was ornately carved with scenes from the forest around me. I had thought it was appropriate to do so considering the wood was from the trees that grew around my cabin. The pieces of furniture were not protected like the walls so I would carve replacement pieces in the small attached workshop whenever something became broken or worn out. Currently my workshop contained a half finished chair that was intended for the small table that stood in one corner of the room. My current chair had a lose leg that no amount of glue seemed to hold. It was starting to look very rickety, but unfortunately I had not really had the time or the inclination to get back up here to finish its replacement. Maybe I would make two chairs - the second one for my princess.

I wasted several minutes daydreaming about making two new chairs for the table. What pattern would she like? Bluebells or maybe lily's of the valley? I attempted to picture Leah's reaction if I brought her to my secret sanctuary. It was sad that I had kept this place a secret from my partner for nearly two thousand years but less than a week after meeting my mate I was ready to bring her here.

Honestly Leah would be freaking out, since I would first have to explain the whole you are on another planet thing. She might not exactly be very trusting since I would have to kidnap her to get her here.I smiled while calculating out how pissed Leah would be if I just brought her here one day without explanation. Could I move her while she was asleep?

The major question was would she like this place? I had chosen to go full rustic, so there was no electricity or plumbing. If you wanted a bath you had to drag water from the lake and heat it up on the wood burning stove. That stove had been hell to get here since I could not make it myself. I commissioned it on Earth and then snuck it through the meadow before bringing it here. That monstrosity and the small Franklin stove in the corner were the only sources of heat for the place. Normally I just went without bathing since I was the only one who came here or I would jump into the lake. Though the latter option was not always appealing since the water in the lake was from melting snow and tended to stay frigid even in the middle of the summer.

Would Leah be like Phila and need the full on civilization or would she enjoy rough living for a while?

I moved past the dust covered sheets with barely a glance at the loft above that housed my bed. I did not allow myself to picture Leah up there or I might be have to go jump into the cold lake. My reason for being here was not the awesome Fall foliage that blanketed the hills around me or the tallest two peaks that already had snow covering their tips. My destination was the storeroom off to the side of the great room.

Entering the cramped space I was greeted by the sight of row after row of shelves. They were filled with a plethora of items, and all of them intended for a single person. They were gifts for my future wife. There was a time right after finishing my guardian training that I went through what Phila called my slut phase. That time did not last long as it very quickly became clear that having sex with as many people as possible became tedious. It was then that I started to dream about my mate, about this perfect paragon, and I began the gathering phase of my life.

Anytime I would walk past a truly pretty trinket I would wonder if she would like it, whoever the fates would pick for me, and I would buy it just in case. Initially there was a certain amount of guilt associated with the purchase as I saw the baubles as a way to atone for the slut phase of my life. How in the world was I going to explain to my future wife what I had done? Fortunately for my sanity the guilt had dissipated with time, and it was replaced by the need to just find her. Regardless of the reason for the purchases over the past thousand or so years I had accumulated a great many of these trinkets. Some I had made myself but most I had gathered from several planets. There was everything from seeds of rare plants to hand woven silks to jewelry. Lots and lots of jewelry. I was a magpie and tended to go for the big shiny ones. She certainly struck me as the type of girl who could carry off some of the larger pieces, but even so I hoped she liked jewelry.

All the pieces were housed in special boxes that protected these gifts from the effects of time. Looking at the plunder around me I came to realize that I had a lot of christmases, valentines days, birthdays, and anniversaries covered. "Well Phil you have quite the collection," I told myself while looking through the shelves.

As far as I was concerned everything in front of me belonged to Leah and despite my joke of all the holidays covered I would have liked nothing more than to give everything to my princess - at this moment. That was a wish that would have to wait till later to be fulfilled, but I wanted to give my princess one gift. It would have to be simple, not too personal, and most of all it would have to be pretty enough for my princess. Nothing caught my eye, or at least nothing that was appropriate for a stranger to give to a nineteen year old girl on a second meeting. Everything surrounding me was extremely personal, and each piece had a story behind it. Picking up a gold filigree brooch l touched the polished amber in the middle. The stone reminded of Leah's eyes and one day I would be happy to give this to her but not today. To Leah I was just a stranger who happened to give her a ride, and nothing more. What if she wanted nothing to do with me? What if she had enough of the supernatural world and pushed me out of her life? My chest began to tighten painfully as panic consumed me, and no amount of rubbing relieved the pain.

I took a deep breath to try to calm myself before I had a full out panic attack. This binding had thrown me off-kilter. I was at an advantage in that Leah was not fully human and therefore she would not freak out if introduced to the "supernatural" world. The wolf instincts were strong in the males but I was not sure how much it would affect Leah. Clearly she had not instantly on sight realized I was her mate. Patience and care would be needed every step of the way if I was going to help Leah become the happy woman Aodh had shown me. If I happened to tie her to me with the bonds of friendship then naturally the next step... but I needed to stop thinking like that. Leah would always have a choice, but before that I would have to somehow ear her trust. This tricky task would have to be accomplished without giving away any of my secrets. The family's identify would have to be protected. I would have to feign blindness and ignorance when she did anything wolfy. Oh and all this was going to have to be accomplished without telling her any outright lies. Yeah this was going to suck.

Coming here to my retreat was a waste of time. Time that I could have been using to plot my next move in regards to Leah. I was torn between two choices, whether to go see her again or to give her some time to grieve. It might have behoved me to let her have a little more space to get over the loss of her father before I popped into her life. However, from the looks of things she was not getting better, despite the fact that he had died months ago. She needed an intervention and I was willing to do anything to help her, including being the platonic friend. In reality I wanted to drag here back to this cabin and fuck her brains out until neither one of us could move. As insensitive as that sounded I would not apologize for being a healthy male that had been cock blocked for months now. After the insane amounts of sex I wanted to interrogate her. A new need had formed inside of me, a need to find out all the ins and outs of this intriguing young woman. And while I was asking for the moon I wished for her to have a matching need to spill her guts to me. I made it my life's work to find out the secrets of other, and it was easy enough to dig through old records as well as houses to find anything you wanted. Normally it did not bother me in the least to search through other people's lives, but to my surprise with Leah I wanted her to tell me everything. Leah should tell me these things because she desperately wanted to share herself with me as much as I wanted to share everything with her. Not that the latter was an option right now, but it did not mean I did not want to tell her the truth about the life I led. My life had suddenly become a Shakespearian drama. I shook my head hoping to rid my mind of all these thoughts and focus on finding something to give to Leah.

The gifts in this room would have to wait for later, but I was suddenly struck with an idea. There was something I could give her immediately that would not be considered too much. Satisfied with that part of the plan I turned around to leave the cabin when something caught my eye.

Sitting in the back of one of the trays next to some of the more elaborate pieces was a perfectly matched pearl necklace and earring set. It was not appropriate at this point in our relationship, but it would make the perfect gift for a young lady. All women needed a pearl necklace to wear with a business suit to a job interview. It was also something an older man could give to a friend - so long as the girl did not figure out that it was a priceless antique. The only problem was the fact that the earring were made for pierced ears, and I was fairly certain that wolves were incapable of getting piercings because of their quick healing abilities. I touched the strand of pearls, allowing my fingers to run across their smooth surface, and found myself extremely pleased with my find. Cultured pearls were only a recent development, and this strand of pearls was obtained from a time when a matching set of pearls was an appropriate gift for a queen - or in my case a Princess.

* * *

A few hours later I parked the truck in front of the small building that housed Clearwater Rentals. The exterior did not give a good first impression. The poor quality of materials used in the construction of the building could not be fully hidden by the recent paint job. This was not a major surprise considering the substandard quality of life that was a universal trait of Native American reservations. The blatant discrimination against non-whites was no longer condoned in this country, but the effects of generations worth of racism was not so easily eradicated. Those dark times still cast shadows on the lives of the current residents of this place. People who did not have access to a good education would have a much harder time moving up from the lower middle class - if they were lucky enough to be born into such a high place on the social strata. Even if Clearwater Rentals was well managed there was still an issue with the customers. The locals of this region would not be that high quality; the rich white people with money to spend went to places with boutiques, Fiji water, and a french masseuse. They would not waste their time here unless they were "slumming it".

My perusal of the place was interrupted by my inner voice. _Since when do you care about the injustices that had been visited upon a countless number of people simply because there was too much melanin present in their skin? Quit being a chicken shit and get in there. _Talking to oneself was a nasty habit that most people acquired after a couple of centuries of life. The worst part was when that pesky voice was right. Which it usually was - the bastard.

The front of the building consisted of several large windows, a plain entrance, and some damp siding. Two large hanging baskets containing some late blooming petunias added a sense of cheer to the otherwise drab exterior. It was a decidedly feminine gesture, and served to remind me of my current mission: Sue Clearwater.

Honestly there was no reason to fear such a benign looking building or the small native american woman inside. The other four parking spaces were empty, so no one else would be here to witness my performance. Despite the fact that it was only two in the afternoon there was no movement among the natives - it might as well have been two in the morning. Not a soul was on the road, or even sitting on one of the rickety porches. It had taken me a great deal of effort to find someone willing to tell me where to find Leah.

I already knew the answer to my question but I needed to make my stories legit. Therefore I had driven by Leah's family home and had even gone so far as to ring the doorbell. Then I spent a good twenty minutes driving around until I found an older man willing to give me directions. This was such a small community that people would easily find out if I was lying about stopping and asking directions. The old man had sent me to this place with a promise that Leah could be found here. He was wrong. Aodh had been sending me visions of Leah's activities throughout the day, and I knew she was nowhere near here. Leah was still in pursuit of a job that would take her away from the area, but currently it seemed a futile endeavor. I knew very well that she would not be back on the reservation for another half hour or so. This would give me plenty of time to charm Sue Clearwater into allowing access to Leah. Or at least that was my plan.

It would have been prudent not to pay attention to all the visions of Leah's activities since they did little more than make me angry. How could anyone treat my Leah with such disdain? In one foolish moment these previously unknown humans moved from obscurity to a very high spot on my shit list. Going on a killing spree would have been reckless, and fortunately for them I was too old for such tantrums. That did not mean they would be allowed to treat her this way without consequences. These fools were in for a very unlucky week. Karma was a bitch - especially when it was doled out by me.

Pushing the thoughts of punishment out of my mind I concentrated on my task. Normally I did not do the whole meet the parents thing since most of the women I dealt with were far too experienced to bring me home to meet the parents. I distinctly remember laughing at my cousin Bryce who had been struggling to prepare for such a meeting - I was certainly not amused now. The women of my past had all known, or figured out very quickly, that I was not the Sunday dinner type of guy. The thought of having to gain the approval of a mother practically gave me hives. What would I do if for some reason the mother did not approve? Appeal to her rebellious teenage side? No, no that would add to much strife to her already chaotic life. I needed to bring peace and hope and not more disorder.

Given enough time I could get Leah to agree to "hang out" with me behind her mother's back, but then that Sam would probably be a nark and tell Leah's mother. He appeared very enthusiastic about making sure Leah followed his rules. It surprised me how much effort Sam put forth to make sure Leah did not break any of his commands considering he no longer had the excuse of being her pack leader. I would have to find a way to wedge myself between Leah and that nasty boy. It would be much easier if I had Sue Clearwater's approval.

Leah's wolf instincts should naturally recognize me as her mate so technically she should be more receptive to my attempts at friendship than just any stranger. While her broken heart and general depression threw up all sorts of walls there should be some small part of her that knew who I was. My hope was that this would be enough for her to let her guard down long enough to give me her trust. More than anything else in the world I needed her happy and content, so if Blossom and Phila were right about her needing a friend then that is what I was going to become. I might have to draw the line at watching romantic comedies; Leah might have to find another friend to watch those horrible excuses for entertainment. Oh who was I kidding - at this point I was willing to go for spa day with her and get matching mani/pedis if that is what made her smile.

My only fear was that if I messed up with her mother now it would be irrelevant if Leah's wolf instincts recognized me as her mate or not. Sue Clearwater was in the position to make my life a lot harder than it needed to be. Which is why I was going to pull out the big guns and put on my weak little human act. Now was not to the time to push down my need to control and just pretend to not care that much about the outcome of this conversation. I took an unnecessarily deep breath and stepped into the store.

The front room was not overly large and filled with a great deal of fishing memorabilia as well as the usual tourist knick-knack - magnets and postcards from the region. There were some cheap fishing rods displayed on one wall along with the usual assortment of lures. I did not pay too much attention to those things since fishing was too much of a tame sport for me. To my dismay I was the only occupant of the room. For a moment I was afraid my plan had failed and Sue Clearwater was not here. After I calmed down enough to think clearly I was able to hear the sounds of a person puttering around in the back room.

"Hello," a human would not be able to detect that someone was around so I forced my voice to sound hesitant as I got closer to the extremely cluttered counter. I would have to watch every gesture and word in order to make sure that no one suspected I was anything more than human.

I breathed deeply once again, reaching out with all my sense in order to gain every advantage here. The room's smell was rather unique in a strange combination of motor oil and fish. "Hello," I asked a little louder, "anyone here?"

Thud. The sound of something heavy being dropped on the floor was followed by a curse. I recognized the voice as belonging to Sue Clearwater. Moments later the small woman who had so much control over my immediate future walked through the door that connected the front room with the back storage area. She did not look quite as intimidating as I expected, but being covered from head to toe in dust tended to make people look less menacing. There was also a smear of some sort of brown oily substance across her cheek. She looked like she had fought hard and lost a battle to a storage room.

She was dressed in jeans the jeans and t-shirt combination that seemed to be the local uniform. The only difference was that she was wearing an old worn looking plaid shirt for extra warmth instead of the jean jacket I had chosen. The shirt's style was not cut for a woman and made me suspect it once belonged to a man. Was this one of her dead husband's shirts? And did she wear for practical or sentimental reasons?

Her salt and pepper hair was shorn, and unless I missed my guess about the same length as her daughter. I speculated behind the reason for having matching hairstyles - a show of support? Though Sue's hair looked a little more professionally cut. Leah's hair was filled with jagged edges and made me suspect that she had done it in a fit of anger. The visions of my distant future with Leah had shown her to have the long hair that was traditional for the women of my family. For a moment I imagined what it would feel like to have that dark cascade of hair spread out across my chest. _Down boy, down_. Great now I was talking to my dick. Having a raging boner was sure going to give a great first impression.

I waited patiently near the counter not wanting to scare the woman. Having watched her daughter for nearly a week I had become familiar with the mother as well. If Sue thought I was too scary then this conversation would end before it began. She was very strong willed and felt that the end justified the means. Currently this stubbornness was leading to a lot of tension between Leah and her mother.

"Yes. How may I help you?" She asked in a professional manner. Her thoughts were quickly taking in my appearance as she tried to assess my reason for being here. My clean clothes gained me some positive points but she was intimidated by my size and sex. I also lost points for not being Native American and she spent a few moments trying to figure out my heritage. I tried to alleviate some of my nerves by imagining her reaction to the truth. _Well Mrs Clearwater technically from my father's side I am of Neanderthal descent and on my mother's side you have a group of human experiments that gets infected by some sort of spirit that occasionally will take over my mind. _Yeah that would go off as well as a lead balloon.

"Philip Nelson," I extended my hand across the cluttered counter and waited for her to shake my hand before continuing. Her hands were a testament to her life and were covered with evidence of years of hard work. "I was told by someone that this is where I could find Leah?" I made sure to infuse my voice with uncertainty. The character I was playing today, Philip Nelson the tourist, should not know that Leah was out looking for a job and that only her mother was here in the shop. He was operating on the poor information he had obtained from an old man walking down the street.

"My daughter is not here right now," her tone became like frost, my hand was dropped, and she stepped back while crossing her arms across her chest - it was kind of amusing how quickly she went from cautious to displeased. Or it would have been had she not been the gatekeeper preventing me from getting to Leah.

"Your daughter?" I paused awkwardly and pretended to be thrown off by the fact that I was now speaking to the mother of the girl I was looking for. I altered my features to give the appearance of disappointment. "Do you know when she will be back?"

"She does not work here," Sue Clearwater was happy to tell me this half lie. She knew her daughter would most likely not find a job elsewhere and would come back to working for the family business. She was hoping that working might get Leah's mind off of "things". Leah's mother clearly was old school regarding the process of grieving. Bad emotions could be dealt with by working hard to ignore them. Going to talk to a professional about your grief would be viewed as a sign of weakness.

"One of your neighbors gave me the impression that I would be able to locate Leah here." A human would have been curious about why the information was incorrect.

"Well they were wrong." Sue Clearwater was confused for a moment as my words sunk in. I was judged to be too well spoken to be the common laborer and questions began to crowd her mind regarding my relationship with Leah. "How do you know my daughter?" she finally blurted out rudely.

"I met her a few days ago and she was kind enough to help me out. I wanted to stop by and thank her again for the assistance." Here is where I was going to cross my fingers and hope that Leah did not call me out on the lie. I somehow doubted that Leah was going the share the tidbit about jumping on the back of a motorcycle to avoid Sam.

"Kind... Leah," the mother sounded incredulous. The words kind and Leah did not belong together. "How exactly did she help you out? Who are you again?"

"Phillip Nelson, I am vacationing in the region for a few months and your daughter gave me directions when I got lost." This was technically true, but I was not going to mention that Leah was sitting on the back of my bike at the time. Instead I gave Sue Clearwater my full dimpled smile, the one that most women could not resist, and waited for the reaction. She was not completely immune to its effects.

There was a brief instant where she returned my smile before the suspicion returned. "On vacation for a few months? Around here that is called unemployed."

I faked a small laugh at her joke since humor usually helped put others at ease. "I assure you my job will be there waiting for me in January." Speaking of my job I would have to start to extricate myself from Los Angeles. There was no way I would be able to work there while Leah was here in Washington.

"Job security is a good thing," she continued to fish for information regarding my profession. She was torn between wanting me to leave and needing to know more information about how I met Leah. She was leaning towards the leave because she did not want me anywhere near her daughter. I was not from the region, I did not seem to have a steady job, and I was male. All these marks were against me and made her determined to see me off. I listened to her thoughts as she made a mental note to interrogate Leah about our meeting.

"I am going to assume you are not expecting your daughter anytime soon?" This was not the right time to talk about my profession.

"I don't think so," she made a poor attempt to look sorry that her daughter was not around to speak with me. "I will tell her you stopped by to thank her for the directions," she was suddenly happy since it appeared that I was about to leave. Foolish woman, she did not know who she was dealing with. "No need to waste your time coming back."

I suppressed my smile as she fell right into my trap. "While I appreciate your offer I am old-fashioned in certain respects. I believe thanks should be given in person and not through a third party. Do you think your daughter will be around sometime tomorrow afternoon?"

Her mumbled noncommittal answer almost made me smile.

"I have nothing scheduled so I will stop by tomorrow. Have a good afternoon." I turned towards the door and took a few steps in that direction before I paused and half turned back towards Sue Clearwater. "Mrs Clearwater? I apologize for being discourteous. I would like to offer my belated condolences." The words came out almost as an afterthought. She would not know that this was the hook.

"Your condolences? For what?" She asked suddenly straightening up even more behind that counter. I did not think it possible but she looked even more suspicious than before. It seems my fish was nibbling a little at my bait.

"Regarding your husband's loss." I replied in a polite tone.

"Well ... thank you." I would have missed it had I not been watching her face so carefully. There was an instance of deep rooted pain before it changed back to suspicion. "How do you know about my husband?"

"Leah told me about him," I paused and let the words sink in. My tone was casual but my mind was quickly searching through her thoughts in an attempt to gage her reaction to my words.

"Leah told you about his death," she sounded amazed.

"She joked about it, but she is obviously still grieving." I scrunched up my face, for once not having to fake my concern. "For a young woman she certainly is carrying around a great deal of baggage. Have you considered grief counseling for her?"

Sue's reaction to my statement was surprising, I had expected anger but instead of telling me to mind my own business she sat down in the chair behind the counter. Her shoulders drooping as she went through her interactions with Leah during the past three months. According to Sue's thoughts Leah had not spoken to anyone about her father's death. Sue was confused as to why Leah would talk to a stranger about such personal things yet never speak of it to her own family. Sue was a mother on the brink of desperation since nothing she had done in the past three months helped her daughter. In fact anything Sue had tried just made Leah more and more angry.

"My daughter is fine," she followed her daughter's example and retreated behind the anger. I was beginning to see where Leah had learned her coping skills from.

"I could be wrong but I don't believe she is fine. I am fairly sure she is very confused, upset, and likely to do something stupid," like accept a ride from a strange man as opposed to going home with her ex-boyfriend.

"Leah is fine," Sue Clearwater was definitely old school regarding the grieving process. Her generation of women were often still imbued with the idea that keeping up appearances is what mattered the most -even at the cost of your sanity.

My temper flared at the foolish words coming out of the mouth of this obstinate creature. How dare she endanger my princess? How could she continue down this road of denial? My princess was hurting and depressed while this woman who claimed to be her family did nothing about it. Obviously Sue Clearwater knew very little about how to deal with grief. She was clearly deluded if she thought I was going to just walk away and accept that her daughter was doing 'fine'. I fully turned back around and walked up to the counter.

"Fine? Is that why she tried to get into a fist fight? It would have been a very bad plan considering this Sam is twice her size." Telling Sue this felt like a betrayal of Leah's confidence but the mother needed to understand how bad things were for her daughter.

Sue's eyes widened in surprise at this news. She was not surprised at her daughter's misdeed. She opened her mouth prepared to say something derogatory about her daughters temper but I interrupted before she could say anything else.

"Honestly he deserved it and had she not taken a swing at him I would have done so myself. When a woman tells you no and walks away you do not follow her shouting orders. Leah had explicitly told him no and yet he continued to push her. My mother would have beaten me to within an inch of my life if I ever treated a girl that way. No matter how provoking a woman is grabbing her arm and forcibly attempting to bend her to your will is never an appropriate response."

"Sam is a good boy," her words seemed hesitant. What did I mean by using the word 'forcibly'? The image Leah's cousin Emily with her scarred face also popped up as evidence that Sam was not always so good. The moment of doubt regarding Sam's sterling qualities passed quickly as she reminded herself of he fact that Sam was the alpha and he did what was best for everyone.

I shrugged my shoulders and pretended not to have that strong of an opinion regarding that sorry excuse for a human being. "I don't know this Sam very well. All I know is that he was trying to push his will on your daughter. That in my book is one of the hallmarks of abuse."

"Circumstance are different around here. She probably..." She stopped herself as she was about to say the wrong words.

"She probably deserved it? Were those the words you were about to use? Ma'am I have had my fill of abused faces. I have seen enough to make me never want to see another one in my life. Honestly I would rather not add Leah to that list." Several lifetimes worth of faces in fact. I have been a doctor for a very long time. "Regardless of whether this is abuse or not you have to admit that Leah needs help."

"She has the support of her family and tribe," Sue Clearwater was determined to convince me that there was nothing wrong with Leah.

I wanted to blurt out that it was her tribe that was making her sick in the first place but that would have not helped my case. Instead I gave an approving nod, "it is always good to have support. Sometimes the people around us are too close to the problem and do not see the big picture."

"What would you know about such things?" She was getting angry now, prepared for an argument, and all her plans for getting rid of me as quickly as possible were forgotten.

"I am fortunate to have yet to experience the loss of a parent but I do know what it feels to be lost. I do know what it is like to have no dreams for the future." Just the knowledge that I will have centuries of watching ahead of me. Simply watching and never being able to intervene because that was not allowed as a guardian. "I was once very young and extremely foolish, but luckily a person outside of my situation noticed the issue and helped guide me to a better place."

"Were you a drug user?" She was picturing me with a needle in my arm.

I laughed, "no it was nothing like that. And before you ask no I did not get in trouble with the police. I was merely dissatisfied and feeling powerless. No drugs, no hookers, but lots of angry music." I gave her another smile and this time her reaction was stronger. Well technically there had been hookers but that was not something I was going to reveal to Sue Clearwater.

"So how did you finally get over it?" It seemed she was not going to admit her daughter had a problem but that did not mean she was not going to look for a solution. I had to admire the woman for her determination but at this point sadly there was very little she could do for her daughter. In a way she was too close to the problem, and sometimes Sue was part of Leah's problems.

"I was greatly helped when I moved away from my toxic situation. Leah needs the same thing because she is clearly disturbed by this Sam." I was pointing out just one of the problems.

"Yes she is," Sue Clearwater put her hands in her face. Why could Leah just not understand that Sam now loved Emily?

"Just seeing her with him for a few minutes made it obvious that his mere presence makes her miserable. I am guessing they have a history together?" The bastard had treated her like crap and when she retaliated with bitterness everyone forgave him because honestly who would want to be around with such a bitch? I wanted to smash all their faces in but that was not an option.

Sue did not look up at me as she answered, "you have no idea how much history. But that cannot be erased."

"My suggestion is that you get her away from him as much as possible," I was trying to be as subtle. My "frankness" had made Sue Clearwater reciprocate and if I was going to be successful then I would need to tread carefully.

"This is her home and there is no where else for her to go. It is too late for her to sign up for college. Even if I could afford the tuition to send her there." Sue replied in a tired voice.

"How can you say there is nowhere to go? Have you looked around you? Nothing but places to go. There are so many places out there to go to that you could spend a lifetime in the woods around here and still not get to see everything." I looked out one of the windows that faced the ocean, "and that does not even include all the places you can go by boat."

"So what do you suggest? I give my daughter one of the boats and send her away from here?" The sarcasm was thick in her voice.

"I don't have to go back to work until late January and since my closest friend lives in Seattle I am essentially alone. I have some things that require my attention but aside from that I had planned on spending most of my free time hiking. I have a great deal of experience when it comes to hiking but I would still feel more comfortable with a partner. Generally speaking it is a bad plan to go alone into the woods."

"What and you think I am just going to hand over my daughter to be a tour guide? We rent out boats here not people, and honestly I don't think you could afford it." Her thoughts began to fill in ways I would seduce her daughter. Her imagination was nothing compared to mine, and fortunately I was the mind reader in this situation.

"I am not interested in paying for your daughter. But if for some strange reason I was then money would not be an issue. I am the walking cliche - a plastic surgeon from LA. So in some ways I have more money than sense." I did the quick smile again but she was not paying attention.

"You are a doctor?" She asked to make sure she had heard me right. Being a physician automatically gained you respect points in this society, and Sue Clearwater was suddenly impressed.

"Yes, you sound surprised." I had taken care not to look or act like a physician.

"You just don't look like a doctor," she said somewhat cautiously.

"That may be so but the diplomas on my wall at home state otherwise." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Humans always tended to be so foolish and would only see what you wanted them to see.

She opened up her mouth prepared to argue with me, but then quickly changed her mind. "It does not matter, my daughter is not for sale."

"I am not out to buy your daughter. There are several reasons why you should give me your support. First of all I am an outsider and unlike you I can remain neutral." Only centuries of practice allowed the lie to pass my lips without heistation. "I am not interested in seducing a nineteen year old girl who is busy grieving the loss of her father and her boyfriend. What I want is someone willing to go hiking with me. It would do her some good to do something other than mope."

"She is not completely carefree. There are duties that she has to perform," Sue was determined to win this argument even at the cost of revealing the secrets of her tribe - and people called me stubborn.

"There is another reason that you should accept my help. I cannot return that favor to the man who helped me out, but I can pass along the goodwill." This was my one last shot at being polite and if this appeal would not work then I was going for plan B. The woman was starting to irritate me to the point where I was considering merely putting her to sleep and forcing her mind to accept me.

"What exactly were you planning?" Suspicion was clearly one of her favorite emotions.

"Well I noticed that she seemed to be having a hard time the other day, and I was going to ask her to join me on a picnic to cheer her up. It would also serve as a thank you."

"A picnic? In this weather?" She looked out at the gathering piles of clouds. They might yield a little drizzle but they were not going to produce a serious rainstorm.

"It is not raining yet, and I have the proper gear it that happens. I picked up a nice large umbrella from the store just a few days ago." Phila had made fun of me for doing this. According to her the only people that used umbrellas in this area were the elderly and the tourists.

"Why would I trust you with my daughter?"

"I can give you my social, you can run a background check. I can also give you my doctor's license number." I pulled out my walled and place several pieces of identification in front of her. When my son had first met his future wife I had dwelled deep into every one of her records. It would make sense that Sue Clearwater would feel more comfortable knowing my background. Not that she would find anything I did not want her to see.

That finally won her over enough that we could have a true conversation. I told her a little about my reasons being in the area - the friend with a cabin, blah, blah, and the need to just get away from the long workdays. I kept it light and shallow making her laugh several times with stories of my childhood spent with my cousins and sweet grandma. Who incidentally would probably break both my legs if she ever found out that I called her sweet.

A car pulled up at the back of the building, there was a slam of the car door, and someone entered in the back. Her clothes were ill-fitting and worn looking, her face filled with suspicion and fatigue. This was a girl who had fought and lost many battles today but they had not broken her completely - deep within her eyes was a spark. She still had some fight left and she was trying to gage how to deal with the current potential disaster. Every instinct within me was screaming at me to close the distance between us, fold her in my arms, and tell her that she had nothing to fear from me.

If I was going to be honest with myself I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and kiss her until that small spark in her pretty eyes turned into an inferno. Would she prefer soft, delicate kisses? No that could not be right, Leah was a strong girl, and if I were to guess I was going to say her kisses would probably knock me on my ass - but I had always been a sucker for strong women. My legs twitched with the need to get closer and I felt my thigh relax in an unconscious attempt to take a step towards my mate. Grabbing a hold of my wayward body I locked my muscles and gave her a small greeting, "good afternoon, Leah." I dared not call her Princess and ruin everything I had accomplished with the mother. Now it was time to start earning the trust of the daughter.

* * *

A/N: Thank you everyone for all your support and concern. Honestly I have had this chapter finished for over a month now but have been hesitant to post it. You all may thank Lizzy-vamire for pushing me to post this. She was very kind and read through this chapter for me and gave the all ok. Sorry I have been MIA for the past couple of months but this summer has been absolutely amazing. Camping trips, playing in the cold, cold Pacific Ocean, picking wild blackberries and using them to make the tastiest of all cobblers. Next week the kids start school and technically I should have a lot more time to write though I might try my hand at writing original fiction instead of fanfic. Lots of smoochies and for those that want to know about Seth's story I am working on his too but first I have to fix some of the earlier chapters.


	52. Picnic by the Sea

9 - Picnic by the Sea

The constant glares from the girl of my dreams might have put off a lesser man but I was not going to be deterred by her angry stares. She did not know me well enough to be truly upset with me, so something else must have brought about that truly dark look. The scarcity of job prospects? Leah had spent the past two days searching for a job and the nights patrolling the area - the latter was a thankless task. She sacrificed a great deal to keep them safe, and what did she get for it? A brush-off and mockery from the people she risked her life to protect. Needless to say an average person would have been bothered by the ordeal of the constant refusals, but someone with as fragile self-esteem as Leah was probably crushed.

I needed to do something about that, and while all of my instincts were telling me to throw the girl over my shoulder, growl at the mother, and take Leah away from here two thousand years of experience had taught me that the grab and growl method would cause more harm than good. Leah needed to be the one to fix her own problems and while I might be able to leave some crumbs for her to follow it would be Leah who would have to walk the path. Determining it was time to place a crumb in front of Leah I asked her to join me for dinner whilst ignoring the dark looks she kept throwing at me.

The invitation took her by surprise and for a moment something other than desolation flashed on her face. It would have been crass to try to get into her mind so I had to settle for trying to interpret her expression - was that speculation? A spark of hope appeared in her yes, and the it was gone to be replaced by the usual hopeless look. Though upon closer inspection I realized that something of that earlier flash of emotion remained. What was my little Princess planning?

Her pretty pink limps curved up to form a naughty smile caught me by surprise, but my body had no trouble reacting to it. My temperature rose, my heart rate, and my nostrils flared with each deep breath - all signs that my flight or flight instinct had grabbed a hold of my body. I was unable to determine if that smile promised a battle of wills or sex but my body did not care as it had the same reaction to either a fight or sex. Unfortunately like all moments of happiness for her this feeling too was fleeting and the smile was gone to be replaced by her usual sulky pout.

Again the need to protect her nearly overwhelmed me. I wanted to kiss that frown off her tired looking face, gather her up in my arms, and take her home to the island - maybe even to my cabin where no one could bother us. It took most of my will to remind myself that it was not possible, so perhaps I would do the next best thing and take her away from here. Away from the clear reminders of her father in this room, but more importantly away from the mother whose thoughts were becoming suspicious again now that she saw that her daughter was not growling at me like she did at everyone else.

She half glanced down at her shoes. "Uhhh, I don't think I am really dressed well," she sounded unsure. Her behavior could have been interpreted as a girl trying to get out of a date but that not the cause of her unwillingness. Sadly I was able to see in real time her self-esteem drop to the floor when she looked down at her clothing.

"You will be fine," the words came out far too gently for 'Phil the tourist' but I could not help myself. She just looked so crushed. I was not allowed to tell her the truth, that it did not matter to me what she was wearing so long as she would agree to come with me. I cared very little about clothes or fashion in general but I knew from experience that clothes helped sell a role. A pair of dark grey wool pants coupled with a well tailored button up shirt turned me into the boss as opposed to just some guy off the street. Without even saying a word, my clothes, and the way I carried myself would to some degree earn respect and obedience from those around me.

While clearly she had been careful when she picked out her outfit this morning it did not take more than a cursory glance to notice that she was not wearing her own clothes. The once white button up shirt was yellow with age and there was a small tear on the right side that had been neatly fixed. This would have been almost acceptable if it was not for the fact that it was one of the most ill-fitting articles of clothing I had ever seen. The shirt was far too wide for her slim frame, hiding what little curves she possessed, and made it look like she was wearing a large tent. To make matters worse the sleeves were too short and reached about two or three inches above the wrist. She had attempted to disguise this fact by unbuttoning the wrist and folding it up in a more casual manner but it would not fool anyone. The skirt was far too wide for her slender waist and was gathered up and rucked around her hips in thick folds that did little to compliment her figure. Her shoes appeared to actually fit right but they were so cracked and worn that they did not look at all professional. Someone had attempted to clean them thoroughly but it was hard to hide the worn off bits and the holes. The new shoe laces threaded through the half broken footwear were such a bright white that practically screamed 'look at me, I am the only think that is not borrowed or really old in this ensemble'. I could not help but smile a little at the shoe laces that had been tied in a neat bow and double knotted just like a child would do it.

Leah did not share my amusement and she threw me another glare before following her mother to the back room. It amused me to think that the mother though I could not hear the conversation if she stepped into the other room. But all humor left me when Sue Clearwater started trying to convince her daughter not to come with me.

"This man is a perfect stranger. If you feel unsure about him I can be the strict mother that will not let her daughter go out." Sue Clearwater spoke softly to her daughter. My hands of their own volition tightened into fists - did that woman have a death wish? Is that what she was trying to do? Visions flashed through my mind, a number of suggestions from Aodh on the easiest way to kill the mother. We could make it look like an accident since the back supply room was messy enough that no one would think twice when they found Sue Clearwater dead on the floor with a pile of heavy boxes on top of her. I started calculating the weight requirement to crush a human body. She was older and probably had osteoporosis which would reduce the density of her bones. The death would have to be instantaneous because I would not want a customer finding her and coming to the rescue.

It was the sound of Leah's worried 'mom' that brought me back from the brink. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. In and out, in and out, in and out. I pushed all thoughts away from my mind and concentrated on breathing. I was a leader among my father's people and was expected to always keep a relatively cool head but now with this binding thing my emotions were flying between joy in the presence of my mate and outright rage whenever someone tried to hurt her or keep me from her. I had not felt this out of control since the full power of Aodh's influence had hit me at the age of 30. It was reckless to allow myself these mood swings even with the excuse of having just met my mate. While this was a typical reaction to binding it was also critical that I remain vigilant and regain control as soon as possible. These moods swings were dangerous for all those around me as they gave Aodh far too many opportunities to slip past my guards and take over my powers. I knew Aodh saw Leah's mother as an enemy and would quickly seize any opportunity to take her out. Personally I did not care if Sue Clearwater lived or died, but Leah cared about her so I would have to make sure that Sue survived my courtship of her daughter. So I pushed thoughts of death aside and continued to breathe in and out slowly. I could have gone on for several hours in this fashion had I not been interrupted by the sound of Leah's quick strides across the floor.

"Are you coming?" I asked casually, not at all like the man who had just been contemplating murdering her mother simply for the fact that she wanted to keep Leah away from me.

"Yeah, sure I have nothing better to do." She told me in an offhand way. Her casual tone was a little too practiced making me think that she was interested in coming with me. Good.

A heat suffused my body as well as a sense of accomplishment. She had agreed to come with me, but I quickly shut down such emotions. Now was the time to focus on Leah and my attempts to keep her with me. I ignored the mother's thoughts as much as possible - that was for the best.

As I followed Leah out the door I noticed she was not wearing a jacket. She really needed to take better care of herself. Internally I rolled my eyes and made an inquiry about her jacket.

I watched as that simple question caused her to frown and sigh. "I can't go with you, I am wearing a skirt."

I wanted to see that little spark in her eyes again, hopefully she would not get angry at the humor. "I had noticed that. I don't normally hang out with girls who wear skirts. Well, unless they are really, really short... the skirt, not the girl."

For a moment she gave me a little smile as well as a tiny laugh. It was nothing like I had seen in my visions but it would have to do for now.

"I can't ride a bike with a skirt on." The frown came back and gave further evidence of the fact that she was not completely indifferent to my dinner offer.

Obviously Leah did not know who she was dealing with but hopefully she would learn that all of my moves were carefully planned out in advance. "It would be fun to see you try, fortunately for you I did not bring the bike. Mothers tend to object when I try to make off with their daughters on a bike."

I placed my hand on her back in order to encourage her to move closer to the truck. This action helped me accomplish two goals, one was to get her in the truck before came up with any more excuses to say no to dinner, and the second reason was to touch her - something that I had been craving to do ever since she had first come through that storeroom door. The small touch made her stumble and I cursed under my breath as I moved to catch her. "Sorry Princess, let's just get you off your feet." My heartfelt apology was infused with too much emotion for a stranger but fortunately for me she was too tired to notice. I contemplated picking her up and carrying her the last few steps but the mother was watching.

Once again I reeled in my instinct and slowly led her to the passenger door of my truck. "Who are you and what did you do with the Phil I knew?" The slight smile on her face felt like a major accomplishment.

"Your mother is watching, so try to behave." My careful handling of Leah had met with the mother's approval.

"I take it you have done this before?" She finally got settled into the truck.

"Not really, I usually don't hang around schoolgirls. But I figured if I was a parent and some guy came to take my precious little daughter there would be certain standards that would have to be met." I made sure that all her body parts were tucked safely inside before gently closing the door. As I walked around the truck I pulled a sweatshirt out of the back toolbox and contemplated the women that had come before Leah. My memory was excellent and I could remember most of their names but honestly they had been nothing. Something to fuck, warm my bed, and look pretty on my arm when it was necessary to attend some function. There had been ones who at the time I thought were special but now that I had met Leah I came to realize they were nothing. There was no woman in my life before Leah - she was the only one that existed as far as I was concerned. It was going to be an interesting day when Leah actually figured out how many women I had dated before her, but hopefully by then she will have bounced back from her own failed relationship with Sam.

Settling into the truck I made a mental note to make sure to carry extra clothes with me just in case. "That is one of my favorites so I want it back." I told her as put on my seatbelt. Honestly it could be hers if she wanted but this was the perfect excuse to see her again - just in case she refused my offer.

"What?" she asked in a confused voice. My poor little girl was so tired.

Guilt flooded my system as I realized I had taken advantage of her fatigue in order to get her to come with me. Her other choice was to sit at home and think about the past. I would keep her mind occupied for a little while so that it could not go back to those dark places. I had chosen the beach as a good place to go with her as she seemed to find comfort with the water. The other perk would be that with this dreary weather there would be little risk of others coming along and disturbing her peace. She was quick to go along with the idea. I guess as a wolf she did not have too many worries about going off alone with a strange guy.

"Your mother thinks we are going to get rained out but I don't think those clouds will lead to much." I told her while driving slowly to our destination. Aodh was fairly good at predicting the weather and if things got really bad I could alter it slightly to prevent Leah being rained on.

She blinked once, twice, and nearly fell asleep. My chest ached for the poor lost little girl and my hands clenched for a moment. The tendrils of fate has securely tied me to the fragile flower that was nearly dozing next to me - and she was delicate no matter how tough she might think herself to be. Should I take her home and try another day? But I had been away from her far too long and at this point it would be impossible for me to leave her alone. I would be tempted to stay to make sure she was all right since no one else bothered to look after her. No I could not take her home to an empty house. The mother had to watch the store for a few more hours and the brother was staying late at school to finish up some homework. Leaving her alone with such dark cloud circling her young head would be beyond cruel. Instead I would take her to this beach do my utmost to distract my princess from her dreary thoughts.

"Well Fall has finally come around these parts," the leaves were starting to change their colors and if past experience was anything to go by pretty soon the sunshine would be gone. Talking about the weather was lame but any other subject seemed too risky with Leah.

A grunt was her only reply and I tried my best to suppress my smile at the sound. It was impossible for a girl her size to properly produce that rude noise.

As we left civilization behind she became more alert to the point of actually trying to add to the conversation. "Nice truck," her tone was tinged with skepticism.

"Oh it is not mine," she had not asked a question but I chose to answer.

"Stolen?" her tone was more curious than worried about my criminal activities. Leah's assumption that the truck could be potentially be obtained illegally was a good thing for me right now as it meant she had no idea that I was currently playing Phil the plastic surgeon. I was not going to expend any effort trying to change her view right now as she did not need the responsible Phil right now. She did not need someone who was a stickler for the rules, and Phil the surgeon was just that, but she did need a guy that was wiling to bend the rules a little. She needed space and time to spread her wings without the stifling expectations of society. If we had to do a few illegal or dangerous things for her to regain her confidence then I was willing to stick around and make sure she would remain safe and out of police custody.

"Would you believe borrowed?" Technically I was not certain whose truck this was. I had found the keys in the kitchen and the truck parked in front of the cabin so I assumed either Sassy or Kendrick had purchased the vehicle. The size was about appropriate for carting around plants and other gardening materials so it probably belonged to Sassy. She was an avid gardener and it bothered her to no end that the grounds around her ancestral home were maintained by others. Kendrick used to tease her about giving up her crown in order to play in the castle gardens.

"Tell that to the police," Leah told me after a long pause. She did not seem overly concerned about the possibility of being in a stolen vehicle. Her attention left me again as she turned to look outside. I could see a part of her face reflected in the side mirror and I watched as she focused on something outside. Ah she was finally looking around her.

I gave a small laugh over her lack of concern. Was she that tired or did she really not care? "I would not worry too much about it. The truck belongs to the house I am currently staying in. A friend of mine needed a house sitter and I needed a place to stay for a few months. So a great plan was born." What Sassy had needed was a sitter for her baby boy Seth, but I might have scared Leah away if I revealed that fact. Sassy also needed a groundkeeper for the landscaping she had installed around the cabin and had gone so far as to leave me explicit instructions regarding the upkeep of the formal gardens. I don't know why she bothered as she should have known damn well I would not listen to such orders. In general us guardians did not do well when it came to orders since we tended to be leaders rather than followers. Bee, my grandmother, was one of the few exceptions to this rule because if you crossed her there would be major consequences - broken bones and such.

"That is nice," the apathy in her voice was clear making me suspect that Leah was very, very tired.

"Yup I am staying there until late January, and then back to the grind for me." She did not ask me any questions regarding my occupation and regrettably the road became far too curvy and steep to risk my mate. I had to give the road my full attention so as not to drive us off the narrow path. A few short minutes later the road got more bumpy and I could see the hints of the ocean through the wall of trees.

It was with a great deal of pleasure that I helped Leah step out of the truck. A light sea breeze came at us from the water and tugged at the short strands of her hair. As she moved to face the wind I could see the tension leave her shoulders almost as if that small movement of air was pushing off some of that heavy weight that she normally carried on her delicate shoulders.

What was it about this place that made her feel better? More importantly could I reproduce it? Most humans liked the sound and look of water, and studies have shown that the mere sound of trickling water would cause measurable physiological changes in the body: lowered blood pressure and heart rate. Was it as simple as that or did it have to do with the isolation of this place? The main road was far enough away that even my keen hearing could not pick up the sounds of cars passing by. Other than the sounds of a few sea gulls and the roar of the ocean there were no other sounds around us. So perhaps she preferred to be alone and I should take her to places where there was no chance of running into people who would trigger unpleasant memories.

Honestly it was somewhat disconcerting how well she was able to ignore my presence. Generally speaking I did not care if a human ignored me and often I would go to great lengths to make sure that my movements would go unnoticed. That was my guardian training and it had been beaten into me since birth. Unfortunately Leah was my mate and I wanted my attention, so suddenly I was a teenage boy again prepared to do any foolish thing that came to mind if only the girl would look at me. In the past I had watched in a detached sort of way how foolishly men would act when trying to gain the attention of a woman - now I finally understood how they felt. A strong part of me wanted to show off my skills, go hunt down that Sam, break him into pieces, and then lay his broken body down at Leah's feet. Fortunately for Sam I had been given orders not to reveal myself to Leah until after the Volturi visited, but that did not mean that he would be completely safe from me. It would just take a little more patience and skill to exact revenge on Leah's behalf and she would probably forgive me if I did not kill the boy. This plan would require a great deal of finesse and I would have to think on it further when I was alone again. Now it was time to make Leah pay attention to me. Doing flips across the stone beach would have probably worked but there was a more subtle way to make her come back to me. Calling her Princess and mentioning food.

Her eyes narrowed slightly when I called her Princess but she seemed to have given into the inevitable and moved on from that argument. "How did you con my mother?"

Suppressing a smile I considered lying but odds were high that I would be caught in a lie. I chose to speak a half-truth instead. "Oh that was easy, I offered to give her my social so she could do a full background check on me." She did not react much to my words but perhaps she had been expecting something more elaborate.

I went back to fixing the blanket and instead of helping me she chose to perch on a fallen log and observed me with drooping eyes. She was like a queen sitting on her throne watching her servant prepare a feast. I turned back to my work and smiled once again. It was obvious that Leah was not a queen, but instead a poor, bedraggled princess. However, despite appearances the potential for greatness was there if you knew what to look for. Underneath the poorly fitting clothes beat the heart of a fierce warrior, and while armor might be dented and in need of repairs she was still willing to fight for what she thought was right.

"No seriously, what did you do?" Her question sounded like an accusation.

The blanket in front of me suddenly became very important to me as I pushed down another laugh. Just being near her made my body buzz with joy, and I needed to control it before I gave myself away. I concentrated on the blanket in front of me and pushed all my will into making it perfect for my mate. The uneven ground was frustrating me far more than it should have. Stupid binding emotions. Stupid rocks. I took another deep breath and stood back.

Not quite satisfied, but conceding defeat, I reached for the thicker quilt to lay on top of the first. "Yeah seriously," I finally answered her question. "Don't you think I would be doing a background check on the guy that took my daughter out? I told you, I thought like a parent." Not that I would have any daughter to worry about - if Aodh was correct, and he was never wrong about such things, Leah would give me two sons - Wolf and Hawk.

"Here let me help you," she told me jumping up from her temporary throne.

I had to push down my growl when she reached for the quilt. This was Leah and if things worked out the way I wanted to she would be helping me with a lot more than just laying down a quilt.

"OCD much?" she asked with a small smile.

"Not at all. There you go," I offered up two of the corners so she could lay them out on her side. Compromise was a vital part of a relationship and if we were going to have a chance at this I would have to learn to let Leah help even if she was going to just fuck things up. I used two thousand years of practice and kept my face cleared of all emotions. There was no need for her to see my frustration, but what the heck was she thinking? Not only did she not place her side of the quilt properly on the blanket but then she just threw herself down on the blanked before I could even have a chance to fix it.

"You promised food, so feed me, now would be nice." She made her demands before she had even settled properly onto the quilt.

"Of course, my Princess." My formal bow was precise and did not show any of my aggravation at the mess she had made of the blankets. Instead I reached for the food I had prepared for her.

She was very curious about everything, "what is this?" was her favorite phrase for a while. I presented dishes from various places around the world hoping to find something that she would like and wanting to test her willingness to go outside of her comfort zone.

"Cucumber and mint yogurt soup," I told her while presenting the small bowl.

"That sounds weird," she curled her nose up but still took the dish from me.

"It is Turkish or Greek depending on who you ask. These dates and goat cheese are also from that region. Try some of them." I pushed a small plate towards her.

Her warm fingers brushed up against mine as she passed back the empty bowl of the cold yogurt soup. I guess that could be added to her like list. The dates and goat cheese were a no. Regardless of my many attempts she would not even take one bite. She insisted that it smelled funny. Her lack of knowledge regarding any of the dishes I was presenting her with made me conclude that her diet consisted of the good old American diet of meat and potatoes. Though around here it might be supplemented with some fish. I spent a few moments fantasizing about her reaction to the foods I wanted to cook for her.

"Oh wow I could not eat another bite," she rubbed her full stomach after polishing off some apple filled pastries. Her sluggish movements indicated that her lack of sleep had finally caught up with her. Fearing that she would insist on going home to sleep I packed away the food in order to give her more room on the blanket so that she could stretch out.

"Oh I almost forgot, I got you a present." I told her pulling out my poorly wrapped gift.

The look on her face was priceless, she was far more excited than should have been elicited by a something in a brown paper bag.

"Sorry I did not wrap it." I could have but that might have taken away from the image I wanted her to have from me. The Phil she knew would not have been aware that presentation was half the present and gift wrap was a must.

She was clearly disappointed and for a minute I kicked myself for not getting her the jewels I had wanted. I thought back to my shelves filled with gifts for her and thought of jumping home to retrieve something from there.

"Um... thanks," she told me with hesitation before reaching for the safety ring.

I quickly covered her delicate fingers with mine before she could hurt herself. "It is mace, not the grocery store brand either. This stuff will melt the face off of anyone you spray it on." It was actually a combination of several very caustic acids. Technically it would melt away parts of a vampire if you sprayed it on them. Hopefully she would never need it, but just in case it would be good.

"Wow how nice," she was expecting something different.

"I figured if you are just going to jump on a bike with a stranger you needed some protection. Not all guys are as nice as I am. Just be careful not to use in on a police officer as they tend to get really pissed off if you do that." Or anyone really, there was this one time at a biker bar where Phila pissed off some guy. That had not ended well.

A seagull screamed above us and took her attention away from me. She threw herself across back down across the quilt and got more comfortable. She was fighting a futile battle against sleep.

"For your information that was my first time?" Her words were slightly slurred.

"First time for what? Jumping on a stranger's bike?" I asked my voice thick with innuendo.

She looked at me startled before she looked away from me with a blush. I gave her some time to compose herself before I continued on with our conversation.

"By the way, do you always do stuff just because someone dares you to?" I kept my voice calm and tried not to think of the trouble she could get into with her impulsive behavior. It is not that I did not want her doing such things I just wanted her to do them with me. So that I could mitigate some of the consequences.

"When you are surrounded by boys that expect you to be a sissy girl you kind of have to prove yourself every day." A touch of pride could be heard in her tone.

"Why are you so determined to prove yourself to them? Is their approval that important?" The young and sometimes even the older mortals would constantly seek the approval of strangers. I never saw any point in it, but maybe it was different when you did not have to constantly hide your true self.

"I don't know, pride I guess." At least she was willing to acknowledge the reason.

"You remind me of one of my cousins, she says she can do anything a man can. Except she can do it in two inch heels." Alexis was a very interesting woman, because of her father's genetics she had ended up very short and this have given her somewhat of a Napoleon complex. Mentioning her height was a dangerous thing.

"Wow, I would want to meet her, she sounds kind of cool."

"Not really, she is a total bloodsucker," I used the word deliberately to see her reaction to vampires. How did she feel about her neighbors? I looked away and pretended to be uninterested in her reaction.

Out of the corner of her eye I saw her twitch. I was not trying to hear her thoughts but they were so loud the came through to me without me even trying. She hated vampires, blamed them for her problems, and she wanted me to be normal. To my regret normal was not something I could ever give her. Maybe I could teach her that abnormal could be good.

I needed to distract her from her morbid thoughts so I kicked her foot slightly. Sand fell away from her tennis shoes. "What is wrong?"

"Uhhh she is a what?" she still sounded worried and strained. Maybe I should not have brought up bloodsuckers so soon.

"A bloodsucker, you know a politician? Are you okay?" technically she was an emperor who ruled her side of the planet with an iron fist. Alexis really was not one to be messed with. My brother Myles and his partner Stefi sometimes worked for her on the planet. Stefi was technically Alexis' cousin, Stefi's mother and Alexis' father were brother and sister who had somehow both managed to marry a member of my family. Myles used to joke that between me and Alexis he spent all his life running errands for royalty.

"Yes, I am fine." she told me quietly before giving out a fake laugh.

Idiot, I thought angrily. Now I had riled her up and she was far too stressed right now to sleep. I stood up and started throwing rocks, not letting any of my frustration show at my foolish mistakes. It was so hard not to tease her, but I had to remember to handle her carefully. She followed my movement with far more interest than necessary.

"Can't you sit still?" She laughed at me again, this time more genuinely.

I could sit still for hours and sometimes days as I stalked my prey, but this was a tidbit that I was not going to share with her. When I was around humans fidgeting was almost second nature to me.

"All right I will be still," I sat down next to her and forced my body to calm. Honestly I needed a few hours of meditation to clear my mind of this jumbling mess of emotions. I half closed my eyes and looked out towards the ocean, focusing on something far away. I forced my muscles to relax, and deliberately slowed the my heartbeats. Some of my calm leached into Leah and her breaths soon started to slow down as she lay down more comfortably on the quilt. It took twenty three of my slow breaths for her to fall asleep. Remaining in the pose for a few more minutes I could not quite find it in myself to stand up and walk away; this was one of the few instances where I stand next to her without suppressing all of my emotions.

In sleep she looked like an innocent child, and I wanted nothing more than to lie down next to her and watch her breathe for the next century and watch my sleeping beauty. She stirred a little bit, disturbed by my movements but soon settled more comfortably on the quilt. She had flung out one of her hands in my direction and only a few centimeters separated her hand from my thigh. Maybe in her sleep her instincts were allowed to take over and she knew she wanted to be closer to me. Or maybe it was more comfortable that way and I needed to get over myself.

Resisting temptation I stood up slowly and backed away from my girl. Looking out over the churning ocean I pointedly ignored my princess while examining the dark wall of clouds that was moving towards the shore. Maybe Sue Clearwater was right in that soon there would be rain. I closed my eyes and tried to consult Aodh and after a few deeps breaths I had my answer. Leah's mother was wrong. There would be a heavy downpour later tonight but not until well past midnight.

It was just a few minutes later that I felt my hip vibrate indicating an incoming message. For a moment I considered not looking at my phone but I quickly decided against that. Phila was still angry at me for ignoring her and at this point she might be tempted to crash my picnic with Leah.

_Your brother is coming for dinner tomorrow, it would be nice for you to come as well._

The message was not from Phila, it was from my mother, which made it far worse. I needed to find a diplomatic way out of this dinner and I needed it fast.

_Myles is already on the Island, I am in the middle of babysitting Sassy's baby boy along with watching over my mate._ I would not feel comfortable leaving now. My reply sounded good enough, hopefully.

A_re you stalking the poor girl? You know there is a fine line between protection and possession. Make sure you don't cross it. _ Her reply came quickly, and it filled me with relief. It seemed my excuse was good enough for now, but soon I would be expected to show up for dinner.

_Don't worry mother, I will not impede her free will. But I cannot guarantee her ex-boyfriend will survival if he keeps on pushing her around._ Sam would pay soon, or as soon as I figured out an appropriate punishment.

_I would like to remind you that mother wants our presence kept a secret for now. You have been looking for your mate for far too long to fuck it up now for some twisted revenge on someone that means nothing._ My mother just pointed out the major hurdle in my plans.

I know grandmother's edict since I am the one who spoke to her about that. As for this Sam creature he will be dealt with soon. I have seen him try to physically detain her when she did not follow his order. This was something even grandmother could not ignore. Technically as a guardian I was obligated to track down and warn those who used their alien given gifts to push around others. There were two main reasons I had not do so. One, technically some leeway might be given with the orders considering he had to keep the entire pack in check, and two, I was supposed to keep my identity secret so it would be much harder to threaten Sam into behaving.

_Wait? He tried taking away her free will? Well that is a different story, rip off his balls. You boys seem to be very fond of those things._ Mother was always very good at finding the simplest of solutions.

_Your plan has some merit but I think he would notice if I ripped his balls off. I have to go, goodbye mother._ I did not really need to go since Leah would probably sleep for a few more hours but talking about ripping Sam's balls off made me want to go do just that.

_Don't think this makes me forget about dinner. You can tell us about how you gelded that little boy. You are smart, you can do it without getting caught. _Only in my family would a story about ripping someone's balls off be considered appropriate dinner conversation.

With a heavy sigh I put away my phone. Rubbing my hands across my face I contemplated how I was going to protect Leah from further damage. That Sam had taken on the mantle of leader and seemed to think that the proper way to get people to do things was via bludgeoning.

The wind picked up and I worried a little about Leah getting cold. I should have brought an extra blanket with which to cover her up. A couple of feather were picked up by the wind and carried a few meters. I suddenly had an idea.

I had been taught a great many things in my youth, and while my family tended to be what some called mind mages, ones who only required to think of something for it to happen, I had been taught other methods. There was one that required materials as well as chants. Leah was not going to be waking up for a few hours yet but she was a light sleeper so it would be best to make sure she would not wake up in the middle of my work. All it took was a few words infused with a slight push of my will and it was guaranteed that despite my movements she would remain asleep.

A definite plan began to form in my head and I moved around the beach picking up all the necessary materials. Feathers and seashells were set neatly in two piles. The feathers would of represent air, and the seashells could be filled to with water to represent that element. Earth and fire were a lot harder to find, and I had to reach back to my old geology days to find the appropriate rocks. The sedimentary rocks would be perfect for earth, but I needed to find volcanic rocks to represent the fire.

I started to lay out my materials around Leah. Air, water, earth, and fire in that order were places around her. I kept up the pattern until her body was completely surrounded. Each time I placed one of the elements around my mate I spoke a few ancient words that were specific for each element. I had forgotten how much work these ancient spells required, and I was reminded why I had stopped doing them. The language I spoke was long forgotten along with the people who had once spoke it - both were lost in the uncaring waves of time.

Some might have done a petty love spell or something equally ridiculous but I was not that young. There was something else that I could give her, something more nebulous, something that people underestimated but was extremely important.

As I spoke the final words the rocks representing fire gave a small flash before becoming ordinary looking again. Either my spell had worked or it had not - it have been over a millennium since I had learned these spells.

My next hour or so was spent prowling around the small beach trying to get a feel for it and trying to determine what it was about the place Leah liked. More importantly what it was about this place that made Leah feel better? and how to go about reproducing it? Unfortunately all I could conclude was that I did not have enough information in order to help her get over her heartbreak. The layer upon layer of depression had pushed her far down into that dark hole. In order for her to leave that place she would have to work through each one of her problems and I was beginning to suspect that a different solution would be necessary for each problem.

I finally remembered to call the Clearwater household in order to explain why Leah was not coming home soon. Luckily it was the little brother who answered the phone since I did not think I had the patience to deal with anymore of Sue Clearwater's suspicions.

"Hello?" He asked said in a friendly tone. The one characteristic of Seth that had been immediately obvious was the fact that he was unable to feel ill-will towards others.

"Hello, may I speak to Sue Clearwater please?" It was always good to be polite.

"She is not home right now but I can take a message if you want." His reply was equally polite but there was an undercurrent of curiosity.

"Could you please tell her that Leah might be a little late because she fell asleep." I deliberately kept things vague just to push his buttons.

"Who is this and what do you mean my sister is asleep?" He sounded suspicious and I tried my best not to laugh of how easily he had been disturbed.

"My name is Phil. She fell asleep after eating but I am fairly sure she will wake up soon since the air is getting a little more chilly." Again I did not give too many details.

"Phil who? Oh you are her tourist?" He sounded pleased at the prospect. It seems that Leah was talking about me so it was a good thing I had not made up some preposterous story about how I had convinced Sue to let me take her daughter.

"Her tourist? I don't know anything about that. But you must be her brother Seth? Please tell your mother that Leah is asleep and I will drive her home as soon as she wakes up. If she has any questions she can reach me at this number. Do you have a pen?" As soon as he told me yes I rattled off my cell phone number. Nothing pleased parents more than the knowledge that their child was just a phone call away. I hung up soon after that and went back to prowling the beach and avoided looking at the sleeping girl as much as possible.

I was in the middle of making a long circuit around the place when Aodh sent me a vision. Very soon I would be visited by two wolves. I had seen them before but I could not tell who they were just by sight. Probably if I spent enough time here I would learn to recognize them by their fur color. It was most certainly not Seth nor was it Jacob the leader of the smaller of the two packs.

I rolled my eyes at their complete lack of tracking skills as soon as I realized they were coming in from the southeast. Even the most novice member of my family knew that when you were sneaking up on a person you stayed downwind from your prey. I firmly believed that had it not been the vampire strategist Jasper telling them exactly what to do during the newborn vampire attack the wolves would have been massacred. It was only blunt force rather than cunning that had brought about that victory. Well blunt force and the fact that they were very good little soldiers that followed orders. My thoughts were brought back to the present as they crashed through the underbrush making enough noise that even a regular human would probably be able to hear them.

My body was turned towards the ocean, but my mind was reaching out behind me as I searched for the intruders. Sam was being a bad boy and had sent his minions to search out Leah. Their thoughts came at me in stereo and caused a moment of confusion before I remembered this strange characteristic of wolves. They were searching for Leah, it seems that Sam had somehow found about my picnic with Leah and had sent an envoy to "make sure nothing happened". There was a great deal of speculation from one of the wolves regarding what he thought Sam had meant by that statement. This wolf, Paul was his name, then proceeded to think in detail all the things he thought Leah was doing with me. At one point he replaced me with his own image as the activities became more graphic. Was this what Leah had had to deal with all summer long? I cannot imagine what it was to be part of the group mind when you are the only female and the rest are immature teenage boys. On top of that was the added burden of having to share the thoughts of her former lover? She had been put in the unenviable position of being the woman tossed aside and then being forced to witness the growing love between her former lover and her former best friend.

What had they expected of her, to sit back and take the pain? Follow orders like a good little girl? In a similar situation I would have probably butchered every member of the pack. I could see why she would sever ties with Sam's pack and join up with Jacob.

The other wolf was slightly bothered by Paul's thoughts and the words orders, Leah, and Sam kept popping up in his thoughts but Quil did not seem surprised. It seems that this was not the first time Paul had pictured himself having sex with Leah.

Aodh was not being helpful right now in predicting Leah's reaction to this intrusion but I was going to guess it would be strong and negative. My resolve to neutralize Sam grew. Sam did not understand the rules of relationships: once you broke up with a girl you no longer were allowed to keep track of her like she was nothing more than a woman who could not possibly make her own decisions.

The wolves did not break through the edge of green that separated the forest from the beach but I could see the tilting of the ferns as they moved their two large bodies through the underbrush. I kept the look of disgust off of my face- amateurs. The large frond of ferns swayed as the moved closer to the beach. A twig snapped. Their over-confidence in their wolf abilities would get them killed one day.

_Paul what the hell? You sound like a freaking rhino._ Sounds like Paul was the one responsible for the sound.

_Shut up Quil, no one asked you opinion_. Came the angry reply.

I stood up, and squinted my eyes into the gloom. Dusk had long settled around the area and while the clouds had disappeared in some spots the stars did not offer enough light for a human to have been able to see clearly. I reached down and picked up a rock. As a guardian I would have left the beach, double backed, and struck at them with one of the knives that I always carried. They would have been dead before they knew I was behind them for disturbing my mate's peace. I was going to keep to my human disguise right now so the rock would have to suffice.

"Who is there?" I asked allowing some of my anger to leak into my voice. Further rustling of the leaves was the only answer to my question. How had they survived that newborn army? They sure as hell were not going to survive this next attack from the Volturi. I would have to find a way to intervene before it came down to a fight because these children knew nothing. If you are trying to hide and someone suspects you are there you do not keep moving. Most certainly you do not continue to make fucking noise.

Deciding these boys needed a lesson I threw the rock at the moving ferns. I could not use my full strength since that would have killed one of the young fools but I made sure it would hurt. There was a satisfying crack of bones and then a yelp. I leaned down and picked up another missile.

Leah jumped a little at the sound. Great now these punks had woken up my Princess before she got her rest. I looked down at her drowsy looking face. So this is what she would look like in the morning? Her lids drooping over those pretty eyes made me think she was still half asleep.

"Sorry did I wake you," I finally asked when I realized that she was far too sleepy to be cognizant of what was going on.

"What?!" Her voice was huskier than usual. With her flushed cheeks and messy hair she looked like a woman that was just getting out of bed after a night of serious fucking. To say I was starting to get aroused was an understatement.

"You are not very coherent when you first wake up." I faked a laugh. Humor was not what I was feeling right now.

"No, no I am awake." I somehow doubted that. She threw a confused look at the outline of seashells and rocks that surrounded her. Maybe I should have cleaned that up so as not to arouse any suspicions. Honestly though she would just think of it as some sort of prank or boredom.

"There was something moving around in the woods, it was getting a little too close for comfort so I threw a rock at the correct bush. I think i got it, though from the sound it made it might have been bigger than I thought." I rubbed the rock and considered hitting the other wolf as well. The knowledge that Paul was in pain gave me a great deal of satisfaction. He seemed to think that one of his ribs was broken. Quil had done nothing more than follow orders so I decided not to throw the second rock.

It might have appeared like I was staring at the bushes but most of my concentration was on the woman next to me. In an instant she went went from sleepy to alert. She glared at the offending bushes before she let out a little laugh.

"Did you have fun?" She asked in a very clear attempt to distract me. She was giving that small seashell far more attention than a mundane half broken bivalve deserved.

"It was boring watching you sleep, except for the snoring bit. That was kind of funny." She was not a snorer thank the gods, but I had already known that. I gave her a full smile to mitigate my insult. Hopefully this joke would not blow up in my face and cause her to take another hit to her self-esteem. I had to remind myself that she was very delicate right now.

She did not look all that delicate as she fisted her hand in preparation of a punch. Soon she abandoned such a plan and after one last glare she lay back down.

"Tell me again why I put up with you?" Her disgruntled tone only made my smile wider.

"Because the alternative is having to live without me, and what is the point of living then?" The words were pulled form me of their own accord. There really would be no point in living without her, not that I would have killed myself but it would have been hard to enjoy life this much without her.

She took my words as a joke and I found that it did not bother me much because I knew that soon she would find out the truth.

"Yeah, how could I go on?" She chortled with humor and I looked away happy that she not been insulted by my comment. "Lions, and tigers, and bears oh my."

"Hmm, I'm sorry, I was slightly distracted." I looked back down at her. The two wolves in the shrubs had finally figured out that silence would be a good idea. It amused me that they were more afraid of Leah's wrath than Sam.

"What time is it?" She asked suddenly worried.

"Getting late, don't worry I called your mother to tell her you fell asleep on me. Unfortunately I could only get a hold of your brother. Seth, is it? He said he would pass the message along to your mother." I wanted to ease her worries. I was not going to be the cause of extra tension between Leah and her mother.

"You called my mother how?" She was distracted from the conversation as she took a deep breath. Her nose twitched a little and recognition flared in her eyes before she scowled. It appeared that Leah had found out who was stalking her and she was not pleased.

"These new fangled things called cell phones." I showed her my phone and wondered how soon I could obtain one for her. It would be a good way to watch over her especially since Aurora the family AI, could monitor her as well. "Come on sleeping beauty it is time to get home."

A much as I wanted to stay with her forever it would not endear me to Sue Clearwater if I did not bring her daughter back the first time I took her out.

Leah sat up and stretched long limbs. Even the baggy clothes could not disguise the strength and grace that was present in the girl. She was again distracted by the elements I had place around her.

"All the elements right there," I told her. Most people would go along with it if you pretended it was nothing more than a joke.

"What?"

"All the elements are represented, well the old school ones at least. Earth, wind, and water. You just need fire and you should be set, I can begin the incantation." I gave her a look that hopefully pushed her towards the this is a joke attitude.

I helped her fold up the blankets and stowed them away in the truck. When I looked up she was staring out at the massive ocean, somewhat mesmerized by the constant roar of the waves.

She finally noticed me waiting for her and turned back to me. As she was walking towards the truck she stopped abruptly and bent down.

"What is wrong?" I asked not all that concerned.

"Hmmm? Nothing, just some sea glass. I have not found any in a while. This one seems especially pretty," she spent a moment admiring her find before following me to the truck.

"Must be your lucky day," I told her quietly.

"Trust me good luck has not been following me around these past few months." She sounded sad again.

"Well you never know, your luck might have just changed."

She just made a scoffing noise before getting into the truck. I turned away from her and smile. Looks like my spell was working.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this takes so long between updates. I am working on my own book and obviously I have to come up with all new characters, and plots and problems. It has been much more frustrating than I could have imagined. Needless to say it takes a great deal of time.

Thanks for all the encouragement for all of my stories. I am working of Seth but I spent a bit of time rewriting parts so that they could go with my new plan. Sorry Seth people that might take me a while longer. Plus I have this great idea of how Phil can take care of Sam so I sort of want to write that down.

Lots of love and happy new year,

LW.


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